


relationship thing (dating?) (is that the word he's looking for?)

by fliick



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Developing Relationship, Getting Together, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, a smaaaall bit of talk of sex but its not explicit i promise you, no beta this time we die where we stand, oikawas just a disaster really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-19 11:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22177174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fliick/pseuds/fliick
Summary: The man next to Hanamaki - in front of Tooru - clears his throat slightly, elbowing his friend with a chuckle.Tooru steals a glance at him and - oh shit, he’s actually pretty cute.Short, dark brown, slightly spiked hair, narrow green eyes, a smile that flashes his teeth.Tooru’s heart may have just jumped.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, very small bokuaka and even smaller matsuhana
Comments: 47
Kudos: 301





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey happy 2020 !  
> i wanted to get this first chapter out for iwaoi day but alas  
> everyday is iwaoi day if you try hard enough though
> 
> my friend was not available to beta this fic so! if anything seems off or you notice typos or anything please have mercy  
> next chapter is currently about 25% done as well so!

Tooru’s tired.

He’s expressed this multiple times in the car ride, but his friends just turned the radio up louder.  
Bokuto’s cheering is drowning out all of Tooru’s complaints, anyway.

A nice night alone, watching a documentary on the Bermuda Triangle. That was Tooru’s plans for the night after a long, rough day of practice.

Instead, he’s being driven to a noisy, bright bar to reluctantly participate in some silly mixer that Mattsun and Bokuto keep insisting on.  
Tooru told them at least ten times that he wasn’t really in the mood for socializing today, but they goaded him on incessantly.

“You’re super handsome, so we’ll all look alright next to you!” they told him, “You’ll end up having fun anyway!”, “You can watch your alien shows anytime!”, “We already have it planned, the other three will be waiting for us!”, “We just want you to have some fun and meet some people!”  
The list of excuses goes on.

Of course, Tooru’s single and he’s been single for the past two years.  
At 27, he can count the number of people he’s actually dated on one hand, which is kind of embarrassing, considering his popularity all throughout highschool and college.

He’s been told he’s a handsome guy (he’s not going to disagree), and being a professional athlete, he has a number of fans.

But the more he goes to mixers with his friends, or uses dating apps to try to find people to hook up with, the more he’s burnt out on _just_ hooking up.

Tooru may have been on a couple flings back in college, though he’s not sure if he’s really ever been in anything deeper than just that.  
He’s hooked up with countless people; flirting with strangers he knows nothing about on an app, going to mixers and making out in the bathroom, et cetera.

It was fun for a while, but he’s kind of sick of it at this point.

His friends are persistent though, especially with Mattsun being his roommate, and they seem to frequently drag him off to parties and blind dates more often than Tooru cares for anymore.

Mattsun and Bokuto are avid party-goers and the kings of socializing with complete strangers.

Frankly, Tooru doesn’t know too much about Bokuto despite hanging out with him for a number of years now; he’s Mattsun’s friend from college and is much more outgoing and loud than both Mattsun and Tooru put together.  
Bokuto’s a “life of the party” kind of guy, the kind of guy everyone knows and likes, the type that ends up being famous in friend groups for just being himself.  
He can be a bit much at times and is far too excitable and eager for his own good, not to mention the guy’s mood can flip at the drop of a hat, but he’s got a heart of pure gold.

Mattsun has been Tooru’s friend since highschool, and is pretty mellow for how often he parties.  
He’s always insisting Tooru have more of a life outside of volleyball and try to loosen up more.  
Mattsun likes putting on a cool and mildly uncaring facade, but he’s extremely observant and practically mothers Tooru when the latter gets sick or hurt.  
He can be a bit pushy and can be annoyingly persistent when he wants to be (see: Tooru’s current situation), but he’s an excellent housemate.  
It’s hard to find a roommate that’s as adamant about washing the damn dishes as Tooru is, after all.

And then there’s Tooru.  
Athletic, charming, handsome, charismatic, smart, all while still somehow being a bit of a social shut-in who watches alien theory documentaries in his free time.  
He likes to think he’s the whole package.

Tooru’s still groaning when they pull up to the bar.  
Bokuto’s bouncing in the passenger seat excitedly, chattering with Mattsun about what kind of people they’re about to meet.  
Mattsun’s telling Bokuto to calm down a bit as he pulls the keys out of the ignition, but Tooru notices the way he drums his fingers against the steering wheel.

Mattsun throws a glance to Tooru in the backseat from the rearview mirror and quirks his eyebrows.

“Oikawa, not to be rude, but you’re, like…” he trails off, as if Tooru should already know what he wants to say.

Tooru frowns. “What?”

Mattsun glances at Bokuto as if to nudge him to say something too, but Bokuto’s too busy checking himself in the mirror under the dim visor light.  
Without the rumble of the car or the hum of the radio, the silence of the car is increasingly awkward.

“ _What?_ ” Tooru presses.

Mattsun sighs and says, “You look like you just slid outta bed, man.”

Tooru scoffs incredulously, throwing his hands up in exasperation.  
“That’s because _you_ forced me to come here as soon as I got home! And besides, I don’t look _that_ bad!”

He’s wearing a pair of comfortable athletic pants and a track jacket over his white graphic t-shirt.  
It’s not what he’d wear to, like, a wedding or anything, but he fully planned on sitting on his ass for the rest of his night with a bowl of nachos.

“It’ll be fine!” Bokuto urges them impatiently, having finished preening himself in the mirror and is now bouncing his leg noisily. “C’mon, c’mon, let’s go!”

Mattsun grunts in agreement, “Alright, alright, Bo. We’re going.”

Tooru grumbles as he slides out of the car and winces at the bright flashing lights of the bar’s LED sign advertising that it’s open and has some new fancy cocktail.

Each step towards the door counts for ten notches on Tooru’s “I’m too tired for this and am seriously considering just walking back home” meter.  
And when they open the door and the immediate roar of laughter and chatter and glasses clinking erupts in Tooru’s ears, it counts for about fifty of those notches.

Tooru’s not a grumpy person - on the contrary, he’s a fairly playful and cheerful person naturally.  
He enjoys being active and having some fun every now and then; in college, he was the champion of his dorm’s one-time “how many slices of pizza can you eat in ten minutes” challenge.  
His record was one whole pizza and two slices.

It’s incredible that their dorm was even able to get away with it the one time, as their RA was absolutely appalled at them, Tooru vehemently threw up afterwards, and his coach worked him to the bone for the next three weeks.  
He was something of a hero in their dorm for a couple weeks after, though.  
The point is, Tooru considers himself pretty easygoing and friendly.

Tonight, however, Tooru is exhausted from the day’s practice and the last thing he wants to spend the night doing is socializing with a bunch of strangers who are only looking for a quick hook-up.

So he trudges as he follows Mattsun and Bokuto to a booth in the middle of the room.  
Bokuto squeezes against the partition of the booth, Mattsun slides in next to him, and Tooru sits at the end of the booth.

Tooru tries to make himself look friendly when the trio of strangers show up and slide into the booth opposite of them.  
As much as he’s not excited about being here, he knows better than to be straight up rude.  
Though admittedly, he’s not quite smiling. He’s just sitting up properly and glancing around the table.

“It’s really nice to meet you! I’m Koutarou Bokuto!” Bokuto eagerly gestures with his hands at the strangers.

Mattsun grins as he introduces, “Issei Matsukawa. Annnnd this is Tooru Oikawa.”  
He loosely slings an arm around Tooru’s neck.

Before Tooru can protest about how he can introduce himself, the stranger by the partition - opposite of Bokuto - introduces himself.

“Keiji Akaashi, nice to meet you,” he says politely.  
He’s not the kind of person who looks like he’d go to mixers, honestly. He seems withdrawn and polite, not at all rambunctious like Bokuto.  
Though, Tooru supposes he’s not in a place to judge.

Akaashi’s kind of pretty, actually. He’s got black hair that curls at the ends and sharp blue eyes.  
Bokuto’s squirming in his seat, a sign that he’s interested.

The stranger opposite of Mattsun has faded pink-brown hair and a lazy grin that matches Mattsun’s perfectly.  
Just from one glance, Tooru can already tell he and Mattsun are hitting it off before they’ve even spoken properly.

“I’m Takahiro Hanamaki. Pleasure to meet you,” he says at Mattsun.  
It sounds like he’s introducing himself to the group, but his eyes are on Mattsun.

“The pleasure’s all mine,” Mattsun comments with a smirk, which earns him a snicker from Hanamaki.

The man next to Hanamaki - in front of Tooru - clears his throat slightly, elbowing his friend with a chuckle.  
Tooru steals a glance at him and - oh shit, he’s actually pretty cute.

Short, dark brown, slightly spiked hair, narrow green eyes, a smile that flashes his teeth.  
Tooru’s heart may have just jumped.

He catches Tooru staring, and Tooru quickly averts his eyes and focuses on the gloss finish of the table.

“I’m Hajime Iwaizumi,” the stranger greets.  
He’s got a deep voice, slightly gruff, but warm and friendly.  
It’d be a lie to say Tooru isn’t attracted to him, but Tooru thinks he can probably be attracted to anyone who looks pretty.

Everyone jumps into conversation with ease, Bokuto asking Iwaizumi and Akaashi what they do, where they went to school, how old are they, and Mattsun and Hanamaki making eyes at each other while not-so-subtly flirting.  
Tooru can’t really keep up with the conversations, so he stays out of it, lets his friends mingle.

When the waitress comes to take their order, Mattsun’s insisting that Tooru get some hard liquor to ease him up, but Tooru settles on a fruity margarita to sip on instead.

They don’t order meals, only small appetizers to snack on while they talk.  
Tooru doesn’t really eat, though. Partially because he’s not actually all that hungry, but partially in mild protest at his friends for his distaste for being here.

Despite that, though, he keeps stealing glances at Iwaizumi. He doesn’t let his eyes linger for more than a second, and he’s careful not to get caught staring again.

Iwaizumi keeps up in conversation easily, answering Bokuto’s barrage of questions and making jokes at Hanamaki and Mattsun’s flirting.  
Talking with strangers seems to come easy to him, and Tooru wonders if he’s used to meeting people. Tooru’s almost tempted to try to join the conversation, if only to grab Iwaizumi’s attention.

_Almost._

But Tooru brings himself back down.  
The only reason he and his friends are even here is because everyone at this table is looking to hook up with someone.  
Their plan is to end the night with a number, or if they’re bold enough, maybe even more.  
Tooru’s just along for the ride.

So Tooru sits in silence and gets slightly tipsy while the group around him prattles on.  
The more he sits in this pool of noise, both from his table and the lively tables around him, the more he wants to move somewhere quiet.

He’s not buzzed yet, but he’s sure he’ll get there with enough time.  
There’s a mild throb in the back of his head that’s likely the result of exhaustion paired with being a bit of a lightweight.

He begins seriously considering just waiting out the night in the bathroom.  
It’s not the most eloquent escape, but the bathroom would be a hell of a lot quieter than the bar.

It wouldn’t be the first time Tooru’s hung around in a bathroom for the night to end, though his friends would be a bit disappointed in him.  
But Tooru’s especially nonsocial tonight, so he thinks he can justify it this time. It’s not like he didn’t tell his friends repeatedly about how he’s tired.

Tooru glances around the table, sliding his fingers along the edge of his glass.

Bokuto’s getting drunker by the minute, becoming louder and friendlier and more blunt in calling Akaashi attractive and Iwaizumi “buff as hell”, despite Bokuto himself easily being the strongest person at the table.

Mattsun and Hanamaki are still enthralled by each other in the middle seats of the booth.  
Being the only responsible person (and also the designated driver of the night), Mattsun’s sipping on a soda, describing some of his best stories from being a waiter in college.

Iwaizumi’s laughing off Bokuto’s remarks about him and watching Bokuto gesture wildly as he’s explaining something that happened in highschool.

Tooru decides it’ll be fine to slip off about now.  
When he slides out of the booth, he still catches Mattsun’s attention, who grabs the hem of his sleeve with a quirk of his eyebrows.

“I’m just heading to the bathroom,” Tooru reassures with a snort, patting Mattsun on the shoulder.

That seems to quell his friend, if a little hesitantly, but he’s right back to chatting Hanamaki up by the time Tooru reaches the dim hall to the bathroom and glances back at the table.

Letting the bathroom door swing shut and close off all the sounds of the bar is like a breath of fresh air to Tooru.  
The bathroom isn’t as gross as Tooru would expect from a bathroom in a bar, but there’s still graffiti scribbled on the walls that looks like it hasn’t been touched in years.

It’s completely empty, surprisingly, but Tooru figures everyone’s out in the bar right now. Sooner or later someone will walk in either to piss or throw up.  
Tooru wonders if he’d get in trouble for locking the door.

He walks the length of the small empty bathroom, tracking himself in the mirror before he stops at the end of the counter of sinks and locks eyes with himself.

He pulls lightly at the collar of his t-shirt pressed against his neck and readjusts his jacket.  
He really _doesn’t_ look that bad, he thinks. It’s not like he came in his pajamas or anything.

His hair’s a little messy, but he was dragged off from the apartment almost as soon as he came home from practice.  
Embarrassingly, Tooru wonders if he smells of sweat. He didn’t get the chance to shower when he got home, only to spray deodorant on before Mattsun shoved him out the door.

After glancing around the bathroom one more time to make sure it’s empty, he lifts his arm and sniffs his armpit, and is immediately relieved to find that his deodorant is holding up.

Of course, Mattsun took the time himself to shower and dress up before Tooru got home.  
Mattsun’s particular about stuff like this, though. He likes making a good first impression and all.

And it’s not like Tooru’s looking to impress anyone anyway. He’s not here to hook up with anyone, and he’s not here to look for a quick one-week relationship.

When Tooru first started going to mixers and parties to meet people, he definitely took care in looking nice and making an impression.  
Judging by the number of flings he’s had in the past couple years, he guesses it worked a couple times, too.

Tooru pulls out his phone to check the time briefly.  
9:45 PM.

He wonders if he could slip out of the bar and walk the streets for a while, but he figures that’s not something he should do alone so late into the night.

He sighs to himself, turning and leaning against the counter, reading the graffiti on the bathroom stalls.

“Call for a good time!” says one of them with a number scribbled under it.  
Tooru will pass, thanks.

Another reads, “Call me back, Wakatoshi! -Tendou” with another number attached.  
Tooru safely assumes Tendou never got a call back from Wakatoshi, but probably got plenty of strangers calling him as the result of writing his number on a public bathroom stall.

On the bottom of the door of one of the stalls, someone’s just drawn a cartoonish picture of a dick with the words “SUCK IT” in all caps next to it.  
Very funny. The height of humor, really.

Tooru impatiently checks his phone again.  
9:50 PM.  
This is going to be a long night.

He practically jumps out of his skin when the bathroom door rattles as it opens.

He’s even more shocked to find Iwaizumi standing in the entrance.

For a good couple of seconds, Tooru keeps his eyes on Iwaizumi, who lets the door softly shut behind him.  
Tooru waits for him to go into one of the stalls or something, but he instead stares right back at him.

So Tooru awkwardly shuffles to the side, thinking maybe he’s just weirdly particular about the stall he wants to go in and Tooru’s just… standing in front of it?

Iwaizumi shifts his weight from where he stands and puts a hand on his hip.  
“Quite the party in here,” he jokes with a half-smile, glancing around the empty bathroom.

Oh, Tooru realizes a little too slowly, Iwaizumi’s here to talk to _him_. Go figure.

Tooru scoffs lightly, “You’re right. I should’ve brought my drink in.”

“Not too late to go grab it.”

Tooru chuckles as he turns to lean back against the counter.  
“If you came to check on me, I’m fine, thanks. You can go back.”

Iwaizumi takes a couple steps closer before turning and hopping up to sit on the counter, his legs dangling off the side.  
“And miss _this_ party? Nah.”

Tooru raises an eyebrow skeptically.  
From past experiences, most people who have met Tooru alone in the bathroom jumped right into making out. Tooru can’t tell if Iwaizumi is just stalling or something.

He crosses his arms as he replies, “I appreciate it, Iwaizumi, but I’m really alright.”

Surprise flashes across Iwaizumi’s eyes as he pulls his right leg up and comfortably lays it over his left thigh.  
“You remember my name,” he observes with only the slightest drop of a question.

Tooru snorts. “You introduced yourself like, fifteen minutes ago.”

Iwaizumi blinks and scratches the back of his neck slightly as he shrugs.  
“You weren’t in much of the conversations. Honestly, I couldn’t really tell if you were paying attention.”

“I wasn’t really,” Tooru admits with an unashamed shrug, taking a few steps closer to where Iwaizumi sits.

“So, are you not a party person?” Iwaizumi asks with the quirk of his eyebrow.

Tooru’s beginning to think maybe Iwaizumi _does_ just want to hang out.  
Maybe Tooru’s giving him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’s a little hopeful because of how handsome Iwaizumi is.  
Either way, Tooru figures it won’t hurt to chat with him for a bit.

He answers, “I got dragged here by my friends. I was planning on staying home tonight and watching a movie.”

“Not a bad plan.”  
A small, lazy grin plays across Iwaizumi’s face. It’s fairly subtle, but Tooru still catches it.

That smile… does something to Tooru’s heart. He tries to ignore it and turns his attention back to the scribbles on the bathroom stalls.

There’s a heart with some initials scribbled in at the top corner of the door of one of the stalls.  
The initials read S.H + T.K.  
Tooru thinks a public bathroom is literally the least romantic place to put something like that, but people do weird things, he supposes.

Iwaizumi continues when Tooru doesn’t add anything to the conversation, “I’m guessing by the sound of it, you get dragged to things like this often?”

“Only sometimes. My friends love meeting people. They’re much better at hitting it off with strangers than me,” Tooru shrugs.

“You seem to be doing a pretty good job right now.”

Oh, he’s such a charmer.  
Tooru almost _wants_ to fall in love with the stranger.  
“I don’t really mind parties or mixers usually, I’m just really tired tonight.”

“Oh?” Iwaizumi pries, leaning to the left, towards Tooru slightly.

Tooru wonders if he should stop talking, but a bigger part of him is curious where they’ll end up.  
Iwaizumi hasn’t asked anything big of him yet, and Tooru’s easing up a bit.

Iwaizumi just has a face that makes Tooru want to talk. That’s not Tooru’s fault.

“I play professional volleyball. Had a long day of practice and had just planned on spending the night alone. I’m not really up for meeting people today,” Tooru gestures with his hands as he speaks.

Iwaizumi makes a low, impressed whistle.  
“An athlete, huh? Not too bad.”

“‘Not too bad’?” Tooru echoes with a snort. “I feel like I should take offence to that.”

Iwaizumi thrums his fingers against the ceramic countertop absently as he chuckles.  
“You’re handsome, and you’re built like an athlete, that’s all.”

Tooru swallows, reaching up to pretend like he’s picking at his lip in an attempt to hide the smile that’s tugging at the corners of his mouth.  
A small part of him is convinced that Iwaizumi is just easing him up so that he can eventually somehow end the night with his tongue in Tooru’s mouth.  
(Though, maybe it’s kind of working and Tooru wouldn’t actually mind that anymore… )

But Tooru is slightly tipsy and maybe, _maybe_ , he’s catching some slightly tipsy feelings.

Tooru mumbles through his fingers, “You don’t look too bad, either.”  
He means to say it softly, but the empty bathroom catches everything he says and amplifies it.  
He winces slightly at the echo, and Iwaizumi raises his eyebrow with a lopsided grin.

“What an incredibly generous compliment.”

Tooru runs his hands over his warm face, a weak smile finding its way to his mouth.  
“I’m just a generous person…” he mutters with a pathetic chuckle.

“Hey,” Iwaizumi says as he lets his leg dangle again. “Tell me your name.”

Tooru blinks, then scoffs, rolling his eyes.  
“Now who’s not paying attention? I’m pretty sure Mattsun introduced me.”

“He did. And I remember it. But I wanted to hear it from you,” Iwaizumi flashes a toothy smile.

There’s that smile again.

Tooru hops down from the counter to stretch as he replies, “It’s pointless for me to tell you again if you remember.”

Iwaizumi watches him stretch his arms over his head.  
“You just didn’t get a chance to introduce yourself.”

Tooru snorts. “You sure you didn’t just forget?”

“Of course not, _Tooru Oikawa._ ” Iwaizumi pointedly enunciates Tooru’s name with a half-chuckle as he jumps down from the counter.  
He continues, “Do you want to go grab some ramen with me down the street?”

Tooru wonders if _this_ is where Iwaizumi makes his big move. They’ll get ramen together, and he’ll ask for Tooru’s number, or if Tooru will go home with him.

Though, his face looks genuine and his tone of voice is relaxed and casual.

Iwaizumi waves his hand as he explains, “We’ll tell our friends, of course. I don’t want anyone worrying about us or anything. I just figured ramen is better than sitting in the loud bar.”

For all Tooru’s adamant complaining that he was tired of flings and hook-ups, he has to hold himself back from immediately agreeing to think about the offer.

Tooru’s not even drunk, he knows, but he’s still trying to blame his persistent urge to say yes to the offer on the alcohol.  
Because after his determined promise to himself not to fall for a stranger anymore, his only other alternate reason to go is that he has feelings for Iwaizumi.  
Which… maybe he does.

He doesn’t want to admit that, though.  
He doesn’t want to admit he caught feelings for a stranger in the bathroom of a bar simply because the stranger chatted with him and smiled at him.  
It’s easier to just blame the drink.

Either way, a “sure” slips out of his mouth before he can stop it.  
Maybe he didn’t actually try to stop it, whatever.  
His reward is Iwaizumi’s grin and the small chuckle that follows it, and he thinks maybe that’s worth it.

They drop by the booth that their friends are at to let them know that they’re going down the street (Mattsun and Bokuto give Tooru looks that he knows he’ll have to answer to later) before they leave the bar.

As they’re walking down the street, Iwaizumi chuckles lightly.  
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hanamaki so distracted by another person. He doesn’t meet people too often.”

Tooru snorts, loosening up. (Was he nervous? He hadn’t noticed.)  
“Mattsun’s a pro at mixers, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so blatantly interested in someone else, either. He’s usually a bit more subtle.”

“Something will end up happening between them, no doubt,” Iwaizumi agrees. “Though, I’m not sure about Akaashi. He’s not too much of a party person, either.”

“I’m sure I’d get along with him,” Tooru jokes, but he catches the mild look on Iwaizumi’s face as he says it.  
Damn, that’s really cute, actually.  
Tooru continues a little quickly, “But I think Bo has his sights set on him. And he’s pretty persistent.”

Iwaizumi holds the door of the ramen shop open for Tooru.  
“If Akaashi is interested, he doesn’t need much persisting.”

The ramen shop is significantly less crowded than the bar, but there’s still a handful of people sitting in it.  
It’s not enough to bother Tooru as much as the bar did, and the low hum of chatter is calming rather than overwhelming.

They sit opposite of each other as they slide into a booth near the back of the restaurant.  
After ordering, Iwaizumi sits up like he wants to talk.

“So…” Iwaizumi begins slowly, and Tooru’s stomach sinks.  
Maybe his face falls too, because Iwaizumi chuckles lightly.  
“I can tell you’re expecting me to ask you out or something.”

That’s… not what Tooru was expecting.

Iwaizumi picks at a stray thread from the sleeve of his jacket as he continues, “After you left, Bokuto talked about you a little.”

“Bokuto doesn’t talk about people that aren’t there unless someone asks.”

A smile sneaks onto Iwaizumi’s face.  
“Alright, so maybe I asked about you.”

Tooru shoves how charming the smile is into the back of his mind and instead sits back in his booth, crosses his arms.

“Uh-huh?” he presses when Iwaizumi pauses.

“Well, he mentioned that you weren’t really looking to hook up with anyone.”  
Iwaizumi speaks carefully, and it’s putting Tooru a little on edge about what he’s trying to get at.

Part of Tooru’s mind is already doubting everything.  
Iwaizumi will spout some nonsense about how he’ll be different, that he promises to keep in contact, that he’s not just gonna be some one-week fling, and Tooru will curse himself for even thinking Iwaizumi was cute in the first place.

“I don’t really want a hook-up either, so I wasn’t planning on asking you or anything. I’m only telling you all this so you’re not too put off when I tell you that I want to get to know you,” Iwaizumi explains calmly.

The words take a moment to register in Tooru’s head.  
So what, he just wants to be friends?  
Well… that’s better than what Tooru had feared, he supposes, but he also kind of feels like he just got friendzoned by a stranger.

“What a long-winded way of asking to be friends,” Tooru scoffs.

Iwaizumi shrugs. “I figured the disclaimer was needed.”

“Sure, it’s appreciated. You might need to do a bit more to be my best friend than accompany me to ramen, though.”

“I’m paying.”

“Oh, well, in that case…” Tooru jokes sarcastically.

Iwaizumi barks a laugh.  
“We can take it slow.”

They pause their conversation when their food is brought to them.  
Tooru has a lingering question on his mind, but he wonders if it would be too blunt for him to ask it.

They eat in relative silence, with some bits of small talk thrown in.  
Iwaizumi leaves the topic there, doesn’t bring it up as they’re eating.  
So Tooru makes idle chatter, trying to find a chance to start asking questions.

They don’t properly talk until they’re leaving the restaurant and are hanging out on the sidewalk outside, waiting for their friends’ mixer to end.

Tooru decides, fuck it, start asking and if things go south, he’ll likely never see Iwaizumi again after tonight.

“Are you really _just_ looking to be friends, Iwaizumi?” Tooru asks, crossing his arms.

Iwaizumi perks up from where he’s leaning against the wall of a brick building next to the ramen place.  
“Hm? Yeah, of course I want to be friends.”

“Is that all you want?”

Iwaizumi breathes a laugh.  
“What do you mean?”

Tooru take a deep breath and holds it as he replies, “Do you have feelings for me?”  
For some reason, that question makes him more nervous to ask than it should.

Iwaizumi blinks, then cracks into a grin as he chuckles.  
“Do _you_?”

“I’m being serious.”

“So am I,” Iwaizumi nods. “And I still am when I tell you that I _do_ want to get to know you. If something else happens, we’ll just take it from there, I guess.”

Tooru frowns, furrows his eyebrows, and pouts his lip; Iwaizumi is dodging the question, and Tooru’s frustrated.

Iwaizumi laughs again when Tooru’s face falls.  
“I’ll rephrase my question, then. Do you _want_ me to have feelings for you, Oikawa?”

Tooru refuses to let his brain find an answer to that question.  
“I just have my doubts that you’re actually interested in becoming friends first.”

“What do you want me to do to convince you, then?”

Tooru wonders how much this guy even wants to be friends. He can’t be _that_ interested. They only just met tonight, after all.  
And if he _was_ interested enough that he’d be willing to ask Tooru for some kind of test, surely that means his interest is deeper than just being friends, right?

But he already said he wasn’t interested in a hook-up.  
So… he wants a relationship thing. (Dating?) (Is that the word he’s looking for?)  
“Relationship thing” sounds better. Less committal.

Which is probably what Iwaizumi wants. Something noncommittal.  
Maybe Tooru’s thinking too hard about this.

There’s a high chance Tooru will never see Iwaizumi again, anyway.  
As much as he kind of wants to try out this whole friend thing with him, Tooru’s ready to give him up if they never meet again.

That doesn’t mean Tooru won’t give him an answer, though.

“There’s a big shopping plaza on the other side of town. Meet me there in exactly three weeks at 4 PM. If you care that much, you’ll show up.”  
He’s mostly joking, really. He doesn’t actually expect Iwaizumi to follow up on such a specific request.

Iwaizumi seems to think it over though, as if seriously considering.  
Then he looks up and nods. “Okay, sure.”

Tooru can’t help the huff of a laugh that leaves his lips.  
But Iwaizumi doesn’t waver, and Tooru thinks _wait, is he serious?_  
Because Tooru was definitely not that serious.

“Oikawa!” a voice from down the street calls.

Tooru glances over to see Bokuto waving at him from down the street, in front of the bar.  
Mattsun steps out of the bar behind him and waves at him as well, jerking his head up as a sign that they’re ready to go.

Iwaizumi’s eyes flick over to them before turning back to Tooru.  
“So, uh, I actually _was_ gonna ask for your number, but not for the reason you think. I just want to keep in contact with you,” he says sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

Tooru eyes Iwaizumi up and down. He’s fairly certain that Iwaizumi _is_ being genuine, but he’s being _so_ genuine that it’s starting to bother Tooru.  
Iwaizumi’s already a good- _looking_ person, how and why is he just an _overall_ good person on top of that?

He won’t give in that easily, though.

Tooru slips a smirk on his face and hums, “ _We can take it slow._ If you follow through, I’ll think about giving you my number.”  
He tops it with a wink and spins around to walk back to his friends.

Admittedly, there’s a part of him that’s bummed that he likely won’t see Iwaizumi again, especially after that silly tease, but he decides to shrug it off and get over it.  
It’s not like Iwaizumi is the only attractive person he’s ever seen, it’s not that big of a deal.

“So,” Mattsun raises his eyebrows with a grin, “You two hit it off?”

Bokuto laughs as he nudges Mattsun. “Did you see the way Iwaizumi looked when Oikawa walked away? The hell did you say to him, dude?”

Mattsun adds with a chuckle, “The very definition of longing in his eyes. Guess you’re still quite the player, even off the court, huh?”

Tooru rolls his eyes, pushing down his blush as best he can.  
“I’m tired and mildly tipsy. Let’s get going.”

Bokuto and Mattsun spend the entire goddamn car ride back home rambling about their night.

Apparently, Mattsun and Hanamaki officially hooked up and Bokuto got Akaashi’s number pretty easily. Bokuto complains that he wanted Iwaizumi’s number too, but happily relinquishes him to Tooru.  
Tooru protests, “I don’t even want him!” despite… well.

When his friends aren’t chattering about their night, they’re grilling Tooru about what happened with Iwaizumi.  
Tooru eventually caves and explains as little about his night as he can. He mentions his request to Iwaizumi, though, and Bokuto’s eyes light up.

“Do you think he’ll actually come meet you?!” he asks with a wide grin.

Tooru waves a hand dismissively. “Nah, no way. I wasn’t even really that serious. He’s not gonna remember some off-hand proposal like that.”

Mattsun glances at Tooru in the rearview mirror, quirking his eyebrows.  
“So what, you’re gonna stand him up?”

“I’m not standing him up if he doesn’t show. Which he _won’t._ ”

Mattsun scoffs. “Famous last words, Oikawa. Famous last words.”

Mattsun heads off to his own room for the night as soon as they get home, but he’s hardly looking at Tooru as he says goodnight; he’s got his eyes trained on his phone, subtle smile, rapidly typing as his phone beeps with each new message.

Tooru spends the rest of the night watching Ancient Aliens and decidedly not thinking about his unofficial arrangement with Iwaizumi.  
(Though Tooru _did_ kind of lead him on. Iwaizumi agreed to it initially, anyway. Doesn’t that make it official? It’s not like Tooru… _doesn’t_ want to meet him again…)

He falls asleep on the couch under a bag of chips, still in his clothes, Netflix asking him if he’s still watching.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Friday morning rolls around, Tooru’s lingering in his bed far longer than he normally would. He only knows this because Mattsun knocks on his door asking him what the hell he’s doing.
> 
> Tooru calls back, “Loitering.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i ended up changing some things around from my original timeline of this fic's events but thats okay, i think this version flows better  
> hopefully its not too nonsensical! i think i made this chapter a bit rushed but it started getting pretty long already whoops  
> third chapter will be out eventually! might take a small break to write a little oneshot before i get it out but! stay tuned

“Oikawa, _please_ change the channel,” Mattsun complains from the other side of the couch.

They’ve been watching a marathon of Fact or Faked for the past couple of hours, (well, Tooru’s been watching it, Mattsun’s been on his phone) and Mattsun’s finally gotten fed up, apparently.

The remote is by Tooru, and he’s pretty sure that Mattsun wouldn’t hesitate to wrangle it from him if he needs to. The marathon is running all week, anyway.  
So Tooru gives it up, holding it out for Mattsun, who snatches it pointedly.

He changes it to some comedy channel playing some kind of romcom movie.  
Tooru thinks his show was way more interesting, but Mattsun’s not putting the remote down now.

They get about fifteen minutes of silence to watch the movie before the door bursts open and Bokuto strolls in.

“Guys! You have to help me,” he announces as he circles around the couch, offering no greeting.

Mattsun exhales with quiet frustration before he mutes the tv and gestures for Bokuto to sit down between them.  
Tooru shuffles closer to the end of the couch to make room and doesn’t say anything when Bokuto pulls a portion of his blanket over his lap.

Mattsun sits up attentively, clearing his throat. “What’s wrong, Bo?”

“I’m going to a party tomorrow and I don’t wanna gooooo,” Bokuto whines, his head falling onto the backrest of the couch.

Tooru and Mattsun exchange glances as Mattsun replies slowly, “Then… don’t go?”

Tooru thinks it’s strange that Bokuto, of all people, doesn’t want to go to a party that he presumably agreed to or was invited to.

“No, you don’t understand, Akaashi is going,” Bokuto gestures with his hands.

“Akaashi?” Tooru echoes. “The guy from the mixer a few weeks ago? You guys are still talking?”

Mattsun mildly rolls his eyes. “They’ve been talking, alright. And they’re right on the cusp of actually dating. If Bo would just ask the guy out-”

“That’s besides the point!” Bokuto interrupts, waving his hands. “My point is, he’s going and I just wanna hang out with him alone.”

“Just tell him. What’s the big deal?” Tooru raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t, like, _meet_ Akaashi, but he seems like the kind of guy who would listen if you told him.”

Mattsun crosses his arms as he grumbles, “No, Bokuto’s just being stubborn. He thinks he has to be completely compliant for the guy to like him. Which is dumb, Bo. If you want to be in a relationship, you both get a say in these things.”

“But he might really want to go and then if I say I don’t, he might get all upset because I’m dragging him down!” Bokuto’s slowly stealing more of Tooru’s blanket, but Tooru decides not to interrupt him to complain.  
“It’s not like I don’t want him to have fun or anything, and I don’t want him to think that, either!”

“He won’t, Bo. All of this is just in your head, dummy,” Mattsun sighs as he gives Bokuto’s forehead a light tap. “Hiding feelings like this won’t help anything. Talk it out with him.”

“I’m not hiding it!” Bokuto pouts. “I just don’t want him to think I’m an asshole or anything. I’ve never tried this long-term dating stuff, but I really like him.”

Mattsun shrugs. “There’s only one way to go about things you’ve never done, man. Just try it out. You’ll never get anywhere like this.”  
Mattsun shoots a glance at Tooru as a cue to add something too.

Tooru picks up what little blanket is left on his lap and dumps it into Bokuto’s lap.  
“Chances are, Bo, he’s probably feeling something similar. Iwaizumi told me he wasn’t much of a party person, so he might just be going because he thinks _you_ want to go.”

Bokuto perks up, his distraught frown already gone.  
“That makes sense,” he agrees with a nod, seemingly content with that. “Thanks, guys.”  
Bokuto’s always been easy to comfort with how quickly his mood changes, after all.

Mattsun gives him an affectionate slap on the shoulder before he turns back to the tv and unmutes it.  
Bokuto turns to Tooru with suddenly wide, excited eyes.

“Right, speaking of Iwaizumi…” he begins with a grin.

Tooru sinks down into the cushions of the couch. “Wh-what about him?”

Bokuto sidles up next to Tooru, nudging his arm with his shoulder.  
“What’s going on with him? Are you still meeting him, or have you already done that?”

Mattsun chimes in without turning away from the tv, “End of the week, on Friday.”

“Really?!” Bokuto bounces his leg as his speaking picks up speed. “What are you guys gonna do? Is it, like, an actual date? You didn’t get his number before, right?”

Tooru lightly pushes Bokuto away as he mumbles, “I mean, he’s probably not gonna show up. That was weeks ago, and we haven’t been talking or anything like you guys have. He probably forgot, if anything.”

Mattsun breathes a laugh.  
“ _You_ haven’t forgotten, so why would he?”

“He can’t have been that interested,” Tooru huffs. “We only talked for, like, an hour. And besides, he hardly talked about himself, anyway.”

“Well, the app we used to put the mixer together does background checks, so if you’re worried that he’s a murderer or something, he’s not,” Mattsun says absently, partially watching the tv and partially engaging in the conversation.

Bokuto pulls his legs up to his chest as he rocks in place.  
“Are you still gonna go out and meet him, even if he doesn’t show?”

Tooru rolls his eyes. “It’s not a date, and I’m not wasting time planning one, either.”

“So are you just not gonna try to meet him?” Bokuto presses. “I thought you were interested in him.”

“I don’t know. If I need to go out or whatever, I’ll stop by. Otherwise… well, whatever. And I’m not- I’m- we just hung out, that’s all,” Tooru stammers out.  
How convincing.

Bokuto eyes him up with knowing eyes, but hops off the couch, flinging Tooru’s blanket back into his lap.

“Okay, well! Thanks for the help, guys. I’m gonna head out and call up Akaashi. Let me know how your date goes, Oiks,” Bokuto calls as he heads for the door.

“We’re not going on a date!” Tooru calls after him, but the door closes before he can get the full sentence out.

When Friday morning rolls around, Tooru’s lingering in his bed far longer than he normally would. He only knows this because Mattsun knocks on his door asking him what the hell he’s doing.

Tooru calls back, “Loitering.”

“Well, don’t loiter too much. You’ll get fined,” Mattsun replies from behind the door. “Besides, you have plans today.”

Tooru groans into his pillows.  
Mattsun slowly opens the door a crack and sticks his head into the room.

“We’re out of milk anyway, and it’s your turn to go shopping, so you’ll be going out either way,” he says.

Tooru sits up in bed, running a hand through his hair.  
“I’ll go out and get groceries, but that’s the only reason.”

“Right, right. Sure.”

Tooru grunts indifferently as Mattsun grins and leaves the room.

When Tooru finally pulls himself out of bed and drags himself into the living room of their apartment, Mattsun’s brewing coffee.  
It’s actually sometime after noon, so Tooru figures the coffee’s for him. Mattsun probably had his when he woke up.

“Well, unlike you, I actually _do_ have a date today,” he hums as Tooru wanders over.

“Date?” Tooru echoes sleepily. “With who?”

Mattsun pours Tooru a mug of coffee as he answers, “Makki.”  
He pauses, then clarifies, “Hanamaki, I mean. From the mixer.”

A smirk plays across Tooru’s face as he elbows Mattsun. “‘Makki’, huh?” he hums, blowing on his coffee.

“Oh, shut up,” Mattsun scoffs, lazy grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “It’s just a temporary thing. We agreed it’s just for a couple of weeks.”

“Right,” Tooru says flippantly, shrugging his shoulders. “I’m just saying, if you bring him home, remember that the walls aren’t very soundproof.”

Mattsun rolls his eyes, messily ruffling Tooru’s hair. “Oh, whatever, you smartass. Go meet your guy already.”

“I’m not-! Oh, forget it,” Tooru grumbles mildly, turning and taking his mug of coffee back to his room to get changed.

Tooru takes a shower for almost a full hour and a half until Mattsun knocks on the bathroom door, telling him to quit stalling and get going already.  
Tooru’s _not_ stalling. He’s just… very adamant about being clean.

He spends an embarrassingly long time rifling through his clothes to find something to wear.  
After about fifteen minutes of pulling shirts out and flinging them onto his bed, Mattsun comes into his room.

“ _Oikawa _, for gods’ sake, you’re not going to a wedding,” Mattsun huffs, putting a hand on his hip. “Just choose something.”__

__Tooru runs a hand through his damp hair, flicking water droplets onto his shoulders.  
“It’s just… I’m just looking for shirts I don’t wear often, that’s all,” he reasons, looking over the five shirts he’s pulled out._ _

__Mattsun rolls his eyes as he picks up a green shirt depicting a ufo abducting a cow on it.  
“You wear this one all the time, what the hell are you saying?”_ _

__Tooru quickly stammers, “Y-Yeah, that’s why I put it over there. I ruled it out.”_ _

__“You met the guy looking like you just left bed, at this point, it doesn’t really matter what you wear, man.”_ _

__“I’m not dressing up for him!” Tooru huffs, snatching the shirt back from Mattsun._ _

__“Uh-huh,” Mattsun hums, unconvinced. “Move. I’m picking something out for you.”_ _

__

__Tooru leaves the apartment at 4:00 PM in a pair of black athletic sweatpants and a light navy hoodie over one of his alien shirts, as chosen by Mattsun._ _

__Halfway to the store, he stops to look at the shopping list Mattsun had given him.  
It’s longer than Tooru cares for, and half of it is just Mattsun things rather than groceries.  
Somewhere along the list, among eggs and milk and cereal, his eyes skim over the word “condoms”._ _

__He can’t tell if Mattsun’s being serious or if he’s trying to be sly with Tooru.  
Either way, there’s no way in hell he’s going to buy them.  
If he’s being serious, Mattsun can go buy his own damn condoms._ _

__“Oikawa?”_ _

__Tooru almost thinks he might have heard someone say his name.  
He doesn’t look up from the list, still skimming it to check if Mattsun put anything else dumb on it._ _

__“Oikawa, hey.”_ _

__Oh, wait. That was real._ _

__Tooru looks up and sees a man walking towards him.  
He’s wearing a red and navy color block windbreaker, halfway zipped up over a black sports hoodie and black pants._ _

__For a split second, Tooru’s mind blanks.  
Why did this guy call to him? He _did_ call Tooru’s name, didn’t he?  
The man has short, dark brown, slightly spiked hair, green eyes..._ _

__All at once, Tooru’s _entire_ face burns up._ _

__He’s stammering for words as Iwaizumi takes a couple more steps towards him, quirking his eyebrows.  
Tooru’s not even comprehensible, he’s just sputtering, trying to find something to say while sweating from how hot his face is._ _

__Iwaizumi stands patiently in front of him, waiting for him to catch his breath.  
He’s got his hands on his hips, and a poorly hidden grin at Tooru’s red face._ _

__“You didn’t forget, did you?” Iwaizumi asks with a huff of a laugh._ _

__Tooru pulls one of his hands over his face and mumbles through his palm, “I just didn’t expect… I didn’t think you’d… I thought…”_ _

__Iwaizumi takes one more step forward as he replies, “But you still stopped by?”_ _

__Tooru waves the slip of paper in his other hand around.  
“I’m on a shopping trip.”_ _

__“Looks like quite the day for you,” Iwaizumi jokes with a small chuckle._ _

__It’s cute, and it makes Tooru’s face hotter, but he shoves the thought down.  
Instead, he crosses his arms and gives Iwaizumi a steeled look._ _

__“If you expected a fancy lunch date or something, I didn’t plan one,” he says firmly. “The only plans I had for today was going shopping, so…”_ _

__Iwaizumi holds his hand out casually.  
“Fine by me. I can shop with you, I don’t mind.”_ _

__“It’s… just shopping, though,” Tooru says._ _

__Iwaizumi shrugs, still holding his hand out. “We don’t have to do anything big. We’re taking this slow, right?”  
There’s a smirk behind those eyes, Tooru can tell._ _

__Tooru thinks maybe doing mundane things like shopping together is somehow almost more romantic than going out for lunch together, but he doesn’t say it out loud.  
It’s not like he’s going to tell Iwaizumi to go home after he actually showed up, anyway._ _

__Iwaizumi’s still holding out his hand, and Tooru can’t tell if he’s expecting Tooru’s hand.  
Tooru almost even thinks about actually giving him his hand._ _

__“Lemme see the list,” Iwaizumi says, emphasizing his open hand._ _

__Ah.  
Tooru hands him the list as they start walking towards the store._ _

__As they’re walking, Iwaizumi strikes up a conversation.  
“I’m a little surprised. You seem a lot more energetic today than when we last met,” he says absently as he reads over the shopping list._ _

__Tooru scratches the back of his neck as he replies sheepishly, “I’ve gotten a lot more sleep since then.”_ _

__“Sleep really does make all the difference, huh?”_ _

__Tooru breathes a laugh.  
“I realize I just picked a random day to do this. I hope you weren’t busy today otherwise with, like, work or anything.”_ _

__“Nah, it’s fine. Don’t work today.”_ _

__Tooru tries his luck with pressing, “What’s your work?”_ _

__“Bartender at a nightclub on the other side of town. I work tomorrow,” Iwaizumi answers, looking up from the list to look at Tooru as he talks.  
“It’s a pretty popular club. It’ll probably be pretty packed tonight, being a Friday.”_ _

__Bartender. Tooru kind of wonders what Iwaizumi would look like in a bartender outfit.  
He’s already attractive, so a bartender outfit would probably just make him extra attractive._ _

__Iwaizumi said it was a popular club… Tooru could probably find the name of the club with a bit of searching._ _

__Would Iwaizumi mind if Tooru showed up at his work?  
Maybe Tooru’s getting a bit ahead of himself. They’re just hanging out as friends right now, after all._ _

__It’s probably something Tooru can do later on, if this whole friendship thing works out.  
Although, if going just to see Iwaizumi in a waistcoat is the only reason Tooru has for going…_ _

__He’s doing a pretty bad job of blocking out his attraction this time, and he doesn’t have a drink to blame for any thoughts he has anymore._ _

__It briefly dawns on Tooru that he doesn’t actually know if Iwaizumi is seeing anyone right now.  
He wants to think that since Iwaizumi went to the mixer in the first place, that means he’s probably single, but it’s been a handful of weeks since the mixer, and Tooru has no idea what he’s gotten up to since then._ _

__Not that Iwaizumi’s potential relationship is any of Tooru’s business.  
They’re just friends right now, after all.  
Buried deep, deep in the back of Tooru’s mind, he still kind of hopes Iwaizumi is single._ _

__

__It’s surprisingly easy to hang out with Iwaizumi, Tooru finds.  
He holds the shopping basket as Iwaizumi reads off items on the list._ _

__“Cereal. What kind of cereal do you guys like?” Iwaizumi hums as he leads the way towards the cereal aisle._ _

__Tooru follows Iwaizumi down the aisle as he replies, “Mattsun likes really plain cereal. I like mine with fruit and sugar, so we compromise by getting a really plain one that I can add stuff to.”  
He points at a box of Cheerios. “Like these.”_ _

__Iwaizumi chuckles as he grabs it and places it in the basket._ _

__Tooru doesn’t normally go shopping with anyone; he and Mattsun have their own individual days to go shopping for general stuff.  
But he finds it a lot more relaxing than he’d anticipated to shop with Iwaizumi. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the company._ _

__Somehow, a thought from the back of Tooru’s head floats to the top.  
What would shopping with Iwaizumi be like if they were dating, or even… married? Living together? Would it be as relaxed as this, or would it feel different?_ _

__“Hey, Oikawa, what brand of macaroni do you guys use?”_ _

__Woah, woah, woah.  
Where did that thought even come from?_ _

__Tooru doesn’t think it’s possible to shove a thought to the farthest reaches of his brain as quickly as he does then.  
He even stammers a bit, embarrassingly._ _

__“O-oh, i-it’s this one…” Tooru bends down to point at a box._ _

__His face feels warm and he briefly hopes Iwaizumi doesn’t notice, but he catches the way the corners of Iwaizumi’s mouth twitch in a hidden smile._ _

__Tooru’s not even sure why he’s jumping to conclusions already._ _

__Iwaizumi had already said he just wanted to be friends before anyway.  
Tooru thinks maybe it’s just because Iwaizumi is the first person who’s offered to be his friend before anything happens between them in… a long time.  
Surely it’s just a shallow attraction, then._ _

__He was so cautious at the mixer before, but it feels like he’s let his guard down already.  
It seriously does _not_ help that Iwaizumi’s smile looks like that, too._ _

__He catches himself staring a couple times, too.  
He can’t help it. He really can’t.  
He hasn’t been able to help it since he _met_ Iwaizumi._ _

__Because when Iwaizumi’s attention is off Tooru and is focusing on cans of tuna, eyes skimming over brand names and prices, absently biting his lip as he does, he’s incredibly pretty._ _

__Tooru, of course, knew from the moment he looked at Iwaizumi the very first time they met that Iwaizumi was and _is_ an attractive person, but there’s something even prettier about him when he’s focused on something else, when he’s unaware that eyes are on him._ _

__Is Tooru being creepy? It sounds creepy if he words it like that, he thinks.  
He doesn’t mean it in a creepy way, of course._ _

__It’s like seeing a famous model walk around wearing sweats and a hoodie without any makeup, in a way.  
It’s intimate and human and… just really beautiful._ _

__Tooru’s probably thinking too hard about this.  
The bottom line is that Iwaizumi is a pretty person. Which is like telling someone that breathing is necessary.  
Obviously Iwaizumi is a pretty person._ _

__“Is the basket getting heavy?” Iwaizumi suddenly asks from where he’s squatting in front of a shelf of bread._ _

__Tooru blinks, metaphorically waving his thoughts out of the way.  
“Oh… no, I’m fine.”_ _

__“You sure?”  
Iwaizumi stands, holding a package of bread and presenting it to Tooru.  
“This fine?”_ _

__Tooru smiles and gives Iwaizumi an “ok” sign with his hand before Iwaizumi gently sets the bread down in the basket.  
“Alright, next is…” Iwaizumi trails off as he looks back to the list, his eyebrows quirking slightly._ _

__Tooru waits for him to announce the next item, and watches how he shifts his jaw, but ultimately shrugs with an indifferent expression._ _

__“What kind of condoms do you want, Oikawa?” he asks casually._ _

___SHIT._ _ _

__Tooru speaks too fast for his mind to catch up, his ears burning, “Oh god, I’m so sorry- That isn’t for- I swear to god, I didn’t write this list!”_ _

__Iwaizumi breaks his aloof facade and bursts out laughing, though.  
As Tooru’s still sputtering, he reaches out and ruffles Tooru’s hair, successfully shutting him up immediately.  
“I already saw them on the list earlier. I’m just messing with you,” he snickers._ _

__Tooru groans, running his hands over his warm face. This boy is bad for his health.  
He’s trying not to think about how much his heart is racing at Iwaizumi’s touch, or how it was the first time Iwaizumi had touched him. (He’s doing a poor job of it, though.)_ _

__“Although,” Iwaizumi continues with a sly smirk, “If you really want to buy them, I won’t object.”_ _

__“ _Absolutely not!_ ”_ _

__“Ohoh, so _that’s_ what you’re into, huh?”_ _

__“Give me the list, you’re not allowed to be in charge of it anymore!”_ _

__

__“You know,” Iwaizumi says as he they’re walking down the street, holding their grocery bags, “I’ve never really gone shopping with anyone else before. It was kinda nice.”_ _

__Tooru shrugs. “I don’t usually, either. Do you and your roommate do your own individual shopping trips, too?”_ _

__“Don’t have one.”_ _

__“Oh? Really?” Tooru shifts one of the heavier bags he’s carrying to his other hand._ _

__Iwaizumi breathes a sigh. “Well, I’ve been meaning to look for one, but it’s been put on the back burner for a while. I asked Akaashi last month, but he said he had just renewed his lease for his apartment and didn’t wanna move out for a while anyway.”_ _

__“What about your other friend?”_ _

__“Hanamaki? I love the guy, he’s a great friend, really, but I couldn’t stand living with him, honestly,” Iwaizumi replies. “His own apartment is full of dog hair that he never sweeps up, and he’s constantly got people just hanging around at his apartment like they live there.”  
He chuckles lightly as he jokes, “Since my friends are off the table, I’ve gotta actually go out and start meeting people.”_ _

__Tooru quickly realizes what he means by that.  
“Wait, is that why you go to mixers? To find a _roommate_?”_ _

__Iwaizumi barks a laugh.  
“Sort of, actually. It’s more or less just to help me make friends and it subsequently helps me scope out a new potential roommate. And if I end up with a friend or even a date in the process, added bonus.”_ _

__“Ah, so does that mean I’m in the potential roommate stage right now?”_ _

__Iwaizumi glances at him sideways with that ridiculously cute lopsided grin he pulls off so well.  
“Maybe. No pressure.”_ _

__It puts butterflies in Tooru’s stomach, so he quickly changes the subject.  
“Anyway, you don’t have to walk me to my apartment, you know.”_ _

__Iwaizumi pointedly holds up the grocery bags he’s carrying. “You’re gonna carry all these yourself?”_ _

__Tooru doesn’t have a way to refute that, so he lets Iwaizumi walk him all the way up to his apartment room, too.  
Before he can reach to turn the doorknob, it turns on its own and Mattsun almost crashes into him on his way out._ _

__“O-oh! You’re back,” Mattsun says, stepping back, slightly startled. “I was just about to leave.”  
He’s wearing a casual button-up shirt, but he looks like he spent a while preening himself, judging by his plucked eyebrows and shaven chin._ _

__“You weren’t gonna wait for me to come back?” Tooru asks, pouting his lip._ _

__“Don’t look like a kicked dog, Oiks. I just figured you were on your way back anyway; thought I’d pass you in the streets or something.”_ _

__“I’m hurt, Mattsun,” Tooru huffs dramatically._ _

__“Anyway,” Mattsun rolls his eyes, “D’you get all the stuff on the list?”_ _

__“Yeah.”_ _

__“ _All_ of it?” Mattsun raises his eyebrows, a playful smirk flashing across his face._ _

__Tooru shoots him a glare. “I got what we needed. You can go buy whatever I missed yourself.”  
He pushes past Mattsun, Iwaizumi following suit, and Mattsun seems to finally notice Iwaizumi standing behind him._ _

__“Wait, you’re-” Mattsun starts, blinking at Iwaizumi, before realization flicks behind his eyes and he sputters into howling laughter.  
“You actually showed up!” Mattsun cackles in delight as he turns to Tooru, “And _you_ took him shopping! And he actually went with you! Oh my god, you’re an idiot, Oikawa!”_ _

__Tooru’s face is heating up fast as he shoves past Mattsun, to put the grocery bags onto the kitchen table.  
“Stop laughing! Don’t you have a date to go on or something?”_ _

__Mattsun wheezes, bent over his knees, holding his stomach, “Ow, ow, ow, my gut! You’re killin’ me, Oikawa! This is the best thing that’s happened all month, probably all year!”_ _

__“Shut _up_! Get going already!” Tooru hisses, pushing Mattsun towards the door._ _

__“I’m going, I’m going! Right after I text Bokuto,” Mattsun snorts as he pulls his phone out and starts tapping at the screen._ _

__After finally shoving Mattsun out the apartment and closing the door behind him, Tooru turns to find Iwaizumi glancing around the room, groceries already set on the kitchen counter.  
Tooru walks over to join him, and Iwaizumi breathes a laugh._ _

__“Hope I’m not causing any trouble,” Iwaizumi jokes airily. “Your roommate definitely seems fun.”_ _

__“He’s sure something,” Tooru laughs._ _

__“Your apartment is really nice,” Iwaizumi observes quietly.  
He wanders over to the tv stand, where some of Tooru’s trophies sit, as well as an assortment of photos._ _

__Tooru starts unpacking some of the grocery bags as he explains, “Mattsun doesn’t like messes. He tends to get kind of crabby if I don’t clean up. Not that I’m a messy person.”_ _

__Iwaizumi hums in acknowledgement._ _

__“So, uh,” Tooru begins, not really sure how to segue into his question.  
He waits until Iwaizumi glances up at him from where he’s bent over the tv shelf to continue.  
“Since you’re already here, do you, uh, wanna stay for dinner?”_ _

__Iwaizumi stands up, eyebrows raised. “That okay?”_ _

__“Oh, well, I mean,” Tooru scratches the back of his neck. “If I’m being honest, I had just planned on ordering a pizza for the night.”_ _

__“We just went shopping,” Iwaizumi points out innocuously.  
He wanders back over to the kitchen Tooru stands in, glancing at the groceries as if to emphasize._ _

__“I’m not a great cook, and Mattsun’s out,” Tooru sheepishly admits. “But I mean, if you have, like, other stuff to do tonight or just don’t feel like it, I won’t be offended.”_ _

__Iwaizumi snorts, reaching up to ruffle Tooru’s hair.  
“I don’t have anything else planned. Pizza it is, then.”_ _

__It’s embarrassing, the way he has to hold down his bubbly joy.  
At this point, Tooru could spend days denying his feelings and he’d get nowhere.  
...Though, that doesn’t mean he’s going to admit them yet, either._ _

__

__They order two large pepperoni and sausage pizzas and spend the evening watching the continued Fact or Faked marathon.  
Iwaizumi had said he wasn’t all that interested in paranormal or supernatural things, but insisted that Tooru show him one of the shows he liked, so Tooru obliged._ _

__In between commercials, they discuss the validity of certain clips, Iwaizumi persistent that most effects can be edited with a talented photoshopper, and Tooru arguing the details of the clips, and how photoshop is the easy answer._ _

__Around 7:30 PM, Mattsun saunters into the apartment, making a surprised note that Iwaizumi’s still around, but eventually plopping down into the recliner by the couch and taking a slice of pizza._ _

__“How did your date go?” Iwaizumi asks him._ _

__Mattsun waves a hand dismissively, “It was cool. We’re not, like, serious or anything. Just hangin’ out. This show is bullshit.”_ _

__Tooru rolls his eyes and talks around a mouthful of pizza, “Your shows aren’t interesting, anyway. At least mine sparks a discussion.”_ _

__Mattsun huffs a laugh, but says nothing more as he flips up the footrest, though he’s so tall that his feet hang off the edge.  
He doesn’t interact much with Iwaizumi afterwards, apart from backing him up in arguments against Tooru about special effects and how people lie._ _

__Sometime around 8:40 PM, Bokuto barges into the room loudly.  
He takes a glance around to assess the situation, then promptly scoops up the last two slices of pizza left and scoots his way onto the couch._ _

__“Sho, you guysh met up again, huh?” he says through a mouthful of pizza, nodding towards Iwaizumi and Tooru._ _

__“Looks like it,” Iwaizumi replies._ _

__Tooru moves to pick up the crusts of Mattsun’s pizza that he refuses to eat and pops them in his mouth.  
“How’d your party go from the other night, Bo?”_ _

__“Oh, Akaashi and I ended up just hanging out at his place. It was super sweet, we watched this really cool movie about dragons.”_ _

__Iwaizumi pipes up, “Tuesday?”_ _

__Bokuto nods as he stuffs the rest of one of his slices of pizza into his mouth all at once._ _

__“Haha, he seemed particularly excited when I saw him. We went to the gym earlier that day.”_ _

__Bokuto lights up, squirming in his seat.  
“Did he say anything about me?!”_ _

__Iwaizumi chuckles. “Nah, he just seemed embarrassed when I asked why he was so giddy.”_ _

__Bokuto rocks in place, grinning. “He’s cute.”_ _

__Mattsun barks from his chair, “Gross, stop being so lovey.”_ _

__Tooru retorts with a scoff, “If I remember correctly, you referred to Hanamaki as ‘Makki’ earlier.”_ _

__“Oh, shut it! You spent like an hour picking out your outfit to go shopping! Admit it, you totally wanted to see Iwaizumi!”_ _

__“Hey, hey!” Tooru hisses, “He’s right there! You’re not allowed to talk about that kind of stuff when he’s in the same room!”_ _

__“You’re not denying it!”_ _

__The room is electric and airy, full of laughter and chatter.  
Tooru would have been upset at his friends for barging in on his evening with Iwaizumi, but he doesn’t really mind it. He enjoys the banter they bring, and they seem to be fine with Iwaizumi’s presence.  
Tooru doesn’t really think they wouldn’t be fine with him, but he’s glad that Iwaizumi meshes well with his friend group._ _

__At almost 10 PM, Bokuto leaves the apartment, and Mattsun begins picking up pizza boxes and cups of soda.  
Iwaizumi sticks around to help clean up, but at 10:30 PM, he tells Tooru that he needs to get back to his apartment._ _

__Tooru follows him out into the hallway of the apartment complex to see him off.  
He closes the door behind him and faces Iwaizumi, strangely nervous.  
He’s about to open his mouth to say something undoubtedly stupid, but Iwaizumi starts talking before he does._ _

__“Hey, it was really fun hanging out with you,” he says with a grin. “I’d love to do this again. With just you and me, or with your friends.”_ _

__Tooru’s heart skips at “you and me”, but he tries to not let it show.  
“I’m glad we got to hang out. Sorry for keeping you so late. I can walk you to the station or something, if you want?”_ _

__Iwaizumi breathes a laugh and waves his hand.  
“Nah, I’ll be fine. It’s not that far of a walk. I’ll see you later, Oikawa.”_ _

__He starts walking down the hall, but Tooru quickly catches his hand before he can get too far.  
He thinks his own hands are shaking, but he can’t really tell, his adrenaline is so high._ _

__“Wait, you, uh, forgot something,” he says, scratching the back of his neck.  
He digs into his pocket and pulls out his phone.  
“I agreed to give you my number last time. I mean, it’d make hanging out a lot easier. Don’t have to count on just randomly running into each other on the street.”_ _

__Iwaizumi blinks, then melts into a wide grin that has Tooru’s throat tight.  
After exchanging numbers, Iwaizumi leaves with the promise that he’ll text Tooru when he gets home._ _

__Tooru waits until Iwaizumi disappears down the stairs of the complex before turning and opening the door to his apartment.  
Mattsun’s in the kitchen, cleaning out cups, but he turns off the sink when Tooru enters the room._ _

__“Guess you still kind of went on a date, huh?” Mattsun hums as he turns to lean on the kitchen bar._ _

__“We ate pizza for like an hour and a half before you showed up. That’s not really a date.”_ _

__“Anything can be a date, Oikawa. I think you proved that by taking the guy grocery shopping.”_ _

__Tooru scoffs, “I wasn’t _going_ to, but he said he didn’t mind.”_ _

__There’s a short pause, and Tooru assumes that’s all the conversation will be, so he starts to turn towards the hallway._ _

__“You’re really into him, aren’t you.”  
Mattsun says it softly, but when Tooru turns to look at him, he’s got a shit-eating grin on his face.  
And of course, he doesn’t ask it as a question because he fully knows the answer._ _

__Tooru avoids his eyes and starts towards his room.  
“I can’t hear you. I’m going to sleep, ‘night.”_ _

__“Your lack of denial is very telling,” Mattsun calls after him._ _

__“I can’t hear you!” Tooru sing-songs down the hall before he disappears into his room.  
Once he’s alone, he settles on putting away all the clothes he’d pulled out earlier in the day that he was too rushed to put away._ _

__It’s as he’s changing his own clothes that his phone pings with a new text message.  
Tooru wants to believe he’s being very cool and lowkey about this whole thing, but as soon as he heard the message, he pounces on his phone like a puppy waiting for his owner to come home, only one arm in his shirt’s sleeve._ _

__›› Hey  
›› I know I already said it, but I really did have a great time tonight  
›› Uh, this is Iwaizumi by the way. Just in case_ _

__Tooru snorts at the message, taking the time to finish putting his shirt on before replying._ _

__‹‹ Did you get home alright?  
‹‹ Well I mean  
‹‹ I’m assuming that since you’re texting me, you did_ _

__Tooru mentally kicks himself for that, but rolls over onto his bed, holding his phone over his head._ _

__›› Haha  
›› I did, yes_ _

__‹‹ I promise I’m not as awkward as I keep leading on to be  
‹‹ You just keep catching me at bad times ;;_ _

__›› I’ll take your word for it  
›› It’s kind of charming, really_ _

__Tooru’s heart picks up at that.  
He feels like a flustered schoolgirl, lying on his bed and getting all red-faced over texts._ _

__‹‹ Charming you? What an honor :9  
‹‹ If all I have to do is be my awkward self to charm you, I think you’ll be pretty pleased to know I’m often very awkward_ _

__›› You were charming me from the first time we met, silly_ _

__Tooru almost drops his phone on his face.  
He’s starting to feel light-headed from the adrenaline rush.  
What are they even talking about? They just met for the second time today._ _

__This is flirting, isn’t it? Iwaizumi’s totally straight up flirting with him.  
They were at least a bit more subtle about it at the mixer.  
_Taking it slow_ , his ass.  
…Not that he’ll complain, though.  
Well, two can play at that._ _

__‹‹ Sorta feels like you’re the one doing the charming…  
‹‹ Are you doing that on purpose?_ _

__›› Hmmm  
›› Depends on if it’s working_ _

__‹‹ Thought we were taking it slow?_ _

__›› Figured we could cut some corners here and there  
›› If you don’t want to, I have no problems with taking a few steps back_ _

__Tooru’s heart drops a little. He knows he shouldn’t get too disappointed, but he still frowns to himself._ _

__‹‹ Oh  
‹‹ Wait were you  
‹‹ Planning this from the start? :/_ _

__›› No, I’m being serious here now  
›› You intrigued me at first  
›› You could say you’ve intrigued me more, that’s all_ _

__‹‹ And by “intrigued”, you mean…?_ _

__›› Caught my attention in a way  
›› Whether it was romantic or not didn’t matter  
›› I just wanted to know you_ _

__‹‹ And now that you do?_ _

__›› Well, what about you?_ _

__Tooru stares at the message.  
His neck is starting to hurt from craning it down, but he ignores it.  
He absently bites his lip, fingers shakily hovering over the touchscreen._ _

__‹‹ ...What _about_ me?_ _

__›› Any question could apply  
›› What are you thinking?  
›› How do you feel?  
›› Etc_ _

__Tooru can hear his own heartbeat.  
He’s having a hard time wracking his brain for an answer.  
While he’s staring down at the screen, Iwaizumi messages him again._ _

__›› Sorry, maybe I skipped one too many steps  
›› I’m not trying to pressure you  
›› If you’d prefer to keep it cool, I won’t be offended_ _

__Tooru breathes a laugh out loud as he reads it.  
He lifts his head to ease the strain on his neck a bit, then spins and lays back down on his back, holding his phone over his face.  
He types his reply out slowly, rewriting the same message over and over until he’s confident enough to send it._ _

__‹‹ What exactly are you hinting at here?  
‹‹ Avoiding my question earlier makes it seem like..._ _

__There’s a pause in the flow of messages.  
Iwaizumi’s typing bubble appears and disappears multiple times.  
Tooru has no proof, but he decides to take it as Iwaizumi being just as flustered as he is._ _

__›› I feel like I’ve already admitted too much, haha  
›› I mean it when I say that my initial intent wasn’t to like  
›› Manipulate you into dating me_ _

__‹‹ I believe you  
‹‹ If I admit that I find you extremely attractive, would you admit something back?_ _

__Tooru’s not sure where that surge of confidence came from, but he’s blaming it on the adrenaline._ _

__Another break in the messages, and Tooru thinks his chest is going to completely combust.  
It’s almost an entire minute before Iwaizumi replies._ _

__›› I’ll admit that I feel the same way about you, then_ _

__Oh _god_ , Tooru’s not even breathing, his heart is racing so fast.  
He’s not even sure how to respond, but he’s definitely sure they’ve breached flirting territory by now.  
Fine. He’ll bite._ _

__‹‹ I admit that you’re intriguing me, too_ _

__›› You’re very endearing when you get flustered_ _

__Tooru wonders if Iwaizumi knows how flustered he is right now._ _

__‹‹ Your smile is incredibly cute  
‹‹ It’s been giving me butterflies since the first time I saw it_ _

__›› That’s cute  
›› You’re giving me butterflies right now_ _

__Tooru swallows. He’s blushing so much that he’s sweating._ _

__‹‹ I kept staring at you during the mixer and maybe during our shopping trip earlier  
‹‹ Not in a creepy way I promise you’re just very pretty_ _

__›› I noticed  
›› I’m flattered  
›› I might have been staring too_ _

__Tooru internally yells at “I noticed”. He really wasn’t being subtle, was he.  
He hadn’t actually noticed Iwaizumi staring, though. He suddenly feels self conscious, but pushes it down._ _

__‹‹ Hey, we’re supposed to be admitting things  
‹‹ There’s no “might have”  
‹‹ You either did or you didn’t_ _

__›› Then I did  
›› Your turn_ _

__Tooru grips his phone, wondering how far he can take this.  
He’d be horribly lying if he said he wasn’t hoping for… something. He’s just worried that they’re taking this too fast, that it _will_ just end up being another fling.  
But, he supposes he doesn’t mind trying. Not for someone like Iwaizumi, at the very least._ _

__‹‹ I might have more feelings than I’m letting on_ _

__Almost immediately, Iwaizumi’s typing bubble pops up, then disappears for almost a minute.  
Tooru starts to already regret everything, so his fingers fly over the keyboard, struggling to slow down to fix his typos before he can send the messages._ _

__‹‹ Shit sorry that was weird  
‹‹ Looks like I ended up admitting too much instead haha  
‹‹ You’re catching me at a bad time again_ _

__Tooru thinks he’s going to implode. He considers the repercussions of throwing his phone against the wall.  
When his phone pings almost two minutes later, he’s almost scared to open the message.  
He takes his time opening it, and almost chickens out when he sees Iwaizumi’s name over the notification, but he steels himself._ _

__Worst case scenario, Iwaizumi is grossed out and he never wants to talk again.  
Tooru could… probably handle that. He was ready to never see Iwaizumi again before today, anyway.  
(Although it’s harder now that he _has_ seen Iwaizumi, but he decides to shove that thought aside.)_ _

__›› I like you  
›› A lot_ _

__Tooru thinks he lets out a sound. He’s not really sure what sound, but it’s enough to apparently alert Mattsun, who knocks on Tooru’s door seconds later amusedly asking if he’s alright.  
Tooru squeaks out a pathetic “Yes!” before setting his phone down and struggling to recollect himself._ _

__He doesn’t think - he just types out his reply as concisely as he can._ _

__‹‹ I like you a lot too_ _

__He almost throws his phone across the room for real when it suddenly starts ringing, and he’s sure he makes an even more embarrassing noise when he sees that it’s Iwaizumi calling._ _

__He panics for a split second, but manages to collect himself enough to answer the call._ _

__Tooru breathlessly mumbles, “Hello…?”_ _

__Iwaizumi’s voice comes low and close, “Do you mean that?”  
His voice, despite how even it sounds at first, is quivering. It’s almost relieving to hear, actually._ _

__Tooru’s own voice wavers too, though.  
“I do.”_ _

__A breathy whisper of a laugh.  
Iwaizumi’s voice quakes clearly now, “So, then, are we…?”_ _

__Tooru’s able to calm his racing mind enough to reply quickly, “Uh, we don’t have to be really serious for now, if you don’t want?”_ _

__“I thought you didn’t want a casual fling?”_ _

__“Who says it has to be a fling?”_ _

__There’s a short pause from Iwaizumi’s end before he says hesitantly, “I’ll admit that I’m not too well-versed with actual relationships. I might not… be an ideal partner.”_ _

__Tooru bites his lip.  
He replies quietly, words dripping out of his mouth without much thought but with all intent, “I’m willing to try this… relationship thing with you anyway.”_ _

__He can hear the grin on Iwaizumi’s face as he says, “Relationship thing? Dating?”_ _

__Tooru breathes a shaky laugh, pushing his bangs back from his face.  
“Relationship thing. It’s like… less committal, but more committed than a fling, I guess?”_ _

__Iwaizumi chuckles softly, and Tooru takes in every bit of it with it sounding so close to his ear.  
“We can take it slow. For real, this time.”_ _

__

__As Tooru’s falling asleep that night, he’s dreading all the teasing and embarrassment he’ll surely have to endure after Mattsun and Bokuto find out._ _

__“Dating.”  
Well, maybe he wouldn’t mind that label, either._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive said it before but i feel like my fics are just me talking about how pretty iwaizumi is for like 23 pages and thats okay bc isnt he though


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That makes Tooru’s heart leap.  
> In the following weeks since they agreed to try out a relationship, Tooru’s found that for the most part, Iwaizumi’s a very easy person to talk to.  
> He’d assumed so since the first time he met the guy at the mixer, but Tooru had assumed things might change with an added element of romance, but things between them seem to be relatively cool.
> 
> Though, Iwaizumi seems to be honest about his feelings, and it makes Tooru more flustered than he likes to admit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so first off, i am kind of emotional that this fic is over; ive been working on it over the course of 2 months and its been one of my favorite fics ive written thus far  
> its been a ride, and i EXTREMELY appreciate anyone who's read this whole fic through, i really love this fic a lot :"D
> 
> second off UH THIS CHAPTER ENDED UP BEING A LOT LONGER THAN ANTICIPATED WHOOPS WHOOPS WHOOPS KJGNKS  
> i blame the second chapter for throwing off my timeline but its okay, this chapter is just a little extra treat
> 
> please enjoy the entirety of relationship thing in it's completed form!  
> it's kind of my fic baby, i love this silly fic

It doesn’t take too long for Tooru’s friends to figure out about him and Iwaizumi.  
Tooru wasn’t really hiding it, though. Mattsun noticed how much his nose was buried in his phone, and once Mattsun caught on, he’d tell Bokuto.

A couple weeks later, Tooru wakes up with a headache and feeling sick to his stomach.  
Bokuto had insisted the night before that he, Tooru, and Mattsun all go out to party as a little celebration of… their relationships, Tooru guesses?

Bokuto and Akaashi had apparently officially gotten together, and even though Mattsun keeps insisting that he and Hanamaki are a temporary fling, his tone of voice and the way he talks about Hanamaki seem to suggest otherwise.  
Despite Tooru insisting that Iwaizumi and he aren’t in a “proper” relationship, Bokuto still goaded him into going out.

Tooru hadn’t even meant to drink last night, but the bar they’d gone to was having a special limited-time cocktail.

He’s only met up with Iwaizumi a handful of times since their shopping trip together.  
Iwaizumi has taken Tooru to his apartment simply to just show him around (his apartment is clean and extremely cozy), and Iwaizumi has hung around at Tooru’s place a couple times.

He rolls over in his bed to grab his phone.  
It’s cold this morning, and he slightly regrets sleeping shirtless, but simply pulls the blanket over him as he unlocks his phone.  
Morning texts became a bit of a norm for him and Iwaizumi, though by now, it’s about 11:40 AM.

‹‹ Good morning! Sort of  
‹‹ I thought I should let you know that I am horribly hungover  
‹‹ Bokuto dragged me to a party last night and I’m kind of a lightweight

›› It’s almost noon, but good morning  
›› Frankly I might as well be hungover too  
›› Had to work one of the biggest nights of the month last night  
›› Are you feeling okay?

‹‹ Big migraine, that’s all  
‹‹ Why was it such a big night? :0

›› Someone rented the whole club out for this huge party  
›› It was so loud my head was pounding all night  
›› I work later tonight, too  
›› Ugh

‹‹ Haha :9  
‹‹ I should stop by or something, I’ve been wanting to since you told me you worked at a nightclub anyway  
‹‹ Would that be weird?

›› Nah  
›› It’d probably be more bearable if you were there

That makes Tooru’s heart leap.  
In the following weeks since they agreed to try out a relationship, Tooru’s found that for the most part, Iwaizumi’s a very easy person to talk to.  
He’d assumed so since the first time he met the guy at the mixer, but Tooru had assumed things might change with an added element of romance, but things between them seem to be relatively cool.

Though, Iwaizumi seems to be honest about his feelings, and it makes Tooru more flustered than he likes to admit.

They haven’t quite labelled their relationship past just… “relationship”, though.  
Tooru doesn’t even think he’d mind if they called it something else, but he’s not about to complain now.

Tooru’s phone buzzes again with a new message and Tooru remembers he still has to actually reply.

›› If you’re not too hungover, that is  
›› I won’t be offended if you’d rather take the night off

‹‹ Not at all!!  
‹‹ I’m the one who mentioned it, after all  
‹‹ It’s kind of exciting, getting to see you in your work environment :D

›› It’s nothing too special  
›› It’s kind of exciting knowing you’ll be showing up, haha

‹‹ Stop thattttttt ///

›› You’re cute

‹‹ Aaack, it’s too early to get all flustered  
‹‹ Gimme the club name already

›› It’s almost noon  
›› It’s easy to fluster you

‹‹ Well you can’t fluster me even more than you already have

›› Is that a challenge?  
›› **Sent an image.**  
›› (;

Tooru swallows as he opens up the picture Iwaizumi sent and chokes on his own spit at the shirtless selfie.  
Iwaizumi is lying on a couch, his bare chest shown, a shy, lazy smile on his face. A sunbeam highlights a strip right under his eyes.  
Tooru’s face combusts into all shades of red, clumsily tapping on the “back” button to reply.

‹‹ OKAY OKAY POINT MADE  
‹‹ You’re truly a pro  
‹‹ Geez, do you always walk around your house shirtless??

›› Sure, if I feel like it

‹‹ Hmmm...  
‹‹ Maybe I’ll consider that roommate thing properly now

›› Oh yeah?  
›› Gimme your pitch, then

‹‹ Uh  
‹‹ I wash dishes, watch Netflix alien shows til 3AM and… I’m an all-around fun person?

›› Hmm hmm  
›› Your points are being considered  
›› I’ll get back to you within five business days

‹‹ You can flatter me all you want and laugh when I get flustered out of my mind over it

›› Sold  
›› And you seem to think I’m much more put-together than you when it comes to this  
›› I get flustered too

‹‹ Doesn’t feel like it D:  
‹‹ Hold on

Tooru, face still crimson, holds his camera up to his face. He sees himself in the front-facing camera and inwardly cringes at how he looks.  
His hair is extremely messy, he’s got slight bags under his eyes, and his skin has goosebumps all over from how cold he is, but he takes the picture anyway and sends it.

‹‹ **Sent an image.**

Iwaizumi’s typing bubble pops up, then disappears… then pops up, then disappears.  
Tooru’s already embarrassed as is, so he sits up and distracts himself by snatching a shirt off the foot of the bed and slipping it on.  
He phone pings, and he practically leaps on it.

›› Shit  
›› I’m…  
›› Gonna save that

Tooru traps a noise in his throat so it doesn’t come out, though it doesn’t stop the blush that spreads over his face.

‹‹ See?! Even when you’re flustered, you act all calm and cool  
‹‹ I’ll just save yours too, then!! >:/

›› Fine by me  
›› That’s kind of why I sent it, anyway  
›› I’m incredibly flustered, I’ll have you know  
›› You’re just cuter when you’re flustered

‹‹ STOP IT YOU’RE DOING THAT CHARMING THING AGAIN  
‹‹ GIMME THE DAMN NAME ALREADY >:(

›› Hahaha  
›› Vermillion  
›› Which I imagine is the color of your face about now  
›› I clock in at 7PM, I’ll give your name to the bouncer  
›› Going to lunch now, see you tonight dummy

‹‹ Have a good lunch!!

Tooru tosses his phone on his bed as he rubs his hands over his face, cooling himself off before stepping out of his room.

He finds Mattsun and Bokuto in the living room, looking not nearly the amount of hungover he’d expected them to be. In fact, Bokuto seems just as lively as he normally is.  
Tooru doesn’t think the guy’s ever been fully drunk before.

“Well, what do you know,” Mattsun jokes as he notices Tooru, “He lives.”

Tooru scrunches up his nose as he walks around the couch to face them.  
“Just because we don’t all wake up at the crack of dawn…”

“Your coffee’s on the counter.”

“Hey, Oikawa, do you have work today?” Bokuto asks suddenly, bouncing on the couch cushions a little.

Tooru calls back as he wanders into the kitchen to grab his cup of coffee sitting on the counter, as made by Mattsun.  
“Nah, I’m on a bit of a vacation for the time being. Threw my shoulder out a couple weeks ago.”  
When he returns to the living room, Bokuto’s looking at him seriously.  
He waves a hand dismissively as he sits down in the recliner, balancing his mug on the armrest, “I’m fine. I told the coach that too, but he said he didn’t wanna take any chances after my knee.”

“I’ve been keeping an eye on him,” Mattsun reassures, “Since he has a tendency to act fine and then cry in the shower about his pain.”

“That was _one_ time, and my knee was an entirely different story!” Tooru protests.

“You can never be too careful,” Mattsun shrugs.

Bokuto pipes up, “Wait, when’d you throw out your shoulder? You were fine the last time we hung out, right? When Iwaizumi came over for the first time?”

Tooru takes a sip of his coffee.  
“It was a little bit after that. It was stinging a bit during my match, but I didn’t say anything about it until after the match was over, and by then, it was pretty bad.”

“You overworked yourself during practice. The day before the match, you mentioned your shoulder was hurting a little,” Mattsun sighs, leaning back on the couch.

“Hmmm,” Bokuto hums, “Well, I was gonna invite you guys to come with me to the carnival, on the other side of town. But if Oiks is hurt, maybe we shouldn’t.”

“I’m not _hurt_ ,” Tooru corrects pointedly, “I’ve got plans tonight anyway, sorry, Bo.”

Mattsun reaches over the couch and pats Bokuto’s head. “Bokuto, isn’t the carnival something you should invite your boyfriend to?”

“Oh! Good point,” Bokuto nods with a grin. “I’ll ask Akaashi, then!”  
There’s a couple minutes of comfortable silence where Bokuto whips his phone out and taps a message out and Tooru sips his coffee.  
Although, as soon as Bokuto’s sent his message, he looks up and asks, “Oh, yeah, how are you and Iwaizumi doing, anyway?”

“Wh- we’re fine,” Tooru stammers slightly, suddenly shy about being put on the spot.

Bokuto waits another beat before tilting his head slightly.  
“Is that all?”

Tooru focuses on his mug as he mumbles, “Well, I mean, I’m going to see him at his work tonight. What else is there to say?”

Bokuto smiles with his whole face as he rocks in place.  
“Really? I have sooo much to say about ‘kaashi. I don’t know how you _don’t_ have a ton to say about your boyfriend. But I guess it’s ‘cause you guys haven’t been together that long.”

“Wh-! Neither have you! And we’re not… I mean, we’re… it’s not really a…” Tooru trails off, not knowing how to explain that they’re not… DATING, per se, but…

He’s interrupted by Bokuto’s phone pinging with a new message. Bokuto hurriedly checks it and beams when he reads it.  
Tooru doesn’t really need the context, but Bokuto tells them anyway, “Akaashi said he wants to go! I’ve gotta go back home and get ready!”

“It’s only like 11:40. The carnival probably doesn’t even open til this afternoon,” Tooru points out, but Bokuto’s already standing up.

“Doesn’t matter! It takes a while to get ready! Gotta make sure I look nice to see him!” Bokuto chirps as he pockets his phone and heads for the door.  
“I’ll see you guys later! Have fun! Bye-bye!”

He leaves Tooru and Mattsun in silence, and they bask in it for a couple minutes as Mattsun checks his own phone and Tooru drinks his coffee.

After a moment, Mattsun looks up from his phone and asks, “You going to stay at Iwaizumi’s tonight, Oikawa?”

Tooru looks at Mattsun from over his mug.  
“Uh, I mean, I’m just going to hang out with him at his work. He works pretty late, so I’ll probably leave before he gets off work.”

Mattsun hums in acknowledgement. “Where’s his work?”

Tooru rolls his eyes, pulling up the footrest on the recliner.  
“Nightclub called Vermillion. Want me to send you a picture of him when I’m there too, mom?”

Mattsun scoffs, “Just checking in case you ask me to pick you up or something after getting buzzed.”

“I won’t!” Tooru huffs, holding his mug with both hands to warm them. “We’re just hanging out.”

“Well, you know, if you end up going home with him, I did end up buying those condoms-”

Tooru kicks the footrest down and puts his mug on the coffee table, quickly standing up.  
“I’m going to my room! I’ll see you later!” he calls as he scurries down the hall, leaving Mattsun to snicker to himself.

At 6:30 PM, Tooru leaves the apartment wearing black sweatpants, a black shirt depicting an alien, and a long light blue cardigan.  
It’s not the most elegant or fancy outfit he’s pulled together, but the dress code seems pretty lax.

He takes a bus over to the other side of town and finds his way pretty easily to the nightclub from there.  
Actually, it’s pretty hard to miss. The club is just down the street from the bus stop, and it makes itself _very_ well known, with large neon arrows flashing towards the bright red LED sign with the club name over it.

There’s already a small crowd in front of the entrance.  
As he approaches the club, he wonders how to go about this.

Iwaizumi had mentioned that he gave Tooru’s name to the bouncer, so shouldn’t he have, like, priority access? But it seems that people with a membership to the club actually do have priority access, so maybe he should still wait in line…

It’s a popular club, but it’s also fairly small, so there’s only one bouncer, and he seems pretty stern.  
He doesn’t really talk, rather just nods his head to allow someone in or silently shakes his head otherwise.  
He has white hair and narrow eyes, but he looks fairly young, maybe only a couple years younger than Tooru. Despite that, he looks like someone Tooru probably doesn’t want to piss off.

He decides to just go to the end of the extremely loose line in front of the club to wait.  
It takes about another thirty minutes of standing around to finally get to the front of the line.

He stands in front of the bouncer, not really sure if he should just… give him his name?  
When the bouncer stays silent, eyeing him up, he figures he’s going to have to be the one to talk first.

“Uh… I’m Tooru Oikawa, uh, Iwaizumi invited me,” he says, rubbing his arm awkwardly.

The man looks him over, raising his… well, actually, he doesn’t have eyebrows.  
Tooru’s not really sure what to do, he hadn’t really thought about what would happen if his excuse didn’t get by.

After a moment of glancing over, though, the bouncer nods to himself and gestures for Tooru to go in.  
At first, Tooru’s not even sure if that means he _is_ allowed to go in, so he fidgets his fingers as he asks tentatively, “Uh, can I… go in?”

The bouncer blinks, then nods, stepping aside only slightly so that Tooru can squeeze past him to open the door.  
He’s kind of intimidating, but Tooru guesses that’s the point.

He makes his way inside and is greeted with a lobby room, only slightly crowded.  
To the left, the smaller room he stands in opens up to a much, much larger room with a stage and a huge floor in front of it for a mosh pit. There’s already a good amount of people waiting around in the mosh pit, waiting for the next band to play.  
Tooru imagines he’ll be avoiding that area of the club for most of the night.

Straight ahead of the small lobby room, warm red and purple lights lead down a short hallway to a bar lit with the same colors.  
Even from a distance, Tooru can tell the bar is pretty congested, but people are coming and going frequently, bringing their drinks to the pit in the other room.

Tooru follows the hallway at a leisurely pace, despite the hallway being short.  
He takes his time admiring the… completely black walls, only lit by the LED lights that guide him through the hallway.

When he enters the mouth of the room, he finds it to be a lot more spacious than he had initially thought. The bar extends from one end of the room all the way to the other, the barstools almost completely filled.

There’s a couple people tending the bar, each wearing white button-up shirts with red waistcoats, complete with either a black tie or bowtie.  
At the far right end of the bar, a man darts around, mixing drinks and taking orders from customers. He’s got black-tipped ash blonde hair that curls up at the ends and narrow eyes.  
He doesn’t seem particularly friendly, and doesn’t make much conversation with any of the customers, but he seems to be excellent at working quickly.

In the middle of the bar, a tall man with messy jet-black hair seems more interested in chatting with customers than taking orders. He has a sleazy smirk on his face the entire time he chats, and practically leaves the drink orders to the other two bartenders.

And at the left end of the bar, the end closest to Tooru… there he is.  
Tooru’s breath hitches as he watches Iwaizumi flit around behind the bar, all grinning and friendly with the customers while sliding drinks across the counter.  
Like the bartender at the right end, he seems to multitask well, but is a lot more charismatic than his co-worker.

And… shit. The outfit _does_ look good on him.

As he approaches the bar, Iwaizumi notices him, and his smile slips into that charming, lopsided, toothy grin that had Tooru hooked from the moment he saw it.

“Hey, you,” Iwaizumi greets as Tooru finds an open barstool at the very end of the bar.

Tooru suddenly feels nervous to talk to him, but he finds himself staring at Iwaizumi’s outfit as he lets his mouth run.  
“Hey. I’ve never actually been to a nightclub like this before. Pretty intense.”

Iwaizumi chuckles lightly, and it brings Tooru’s eyes back up to his face, illuminated by the red and purple lights that line the bar.  
He finishes mixing a drink and slides it over to someone off to the right of Tooru as he replies, “Yeah. And so far, tonight’s been pretty tame. You shoulda seen it last night.”

Before Tooru can come up with something else to talk about, someone calls for an order from Iwaizumi.  
Iwaizumi nods to him, pointing to the customer briefly, acknowledging the order as he gets to work on the drink.  
“It’s a little embarrassing that you’re here, though,” Iwaizumi says absently, without missing a beat. “Having you watch me work makes me a little nervous.”

Tooru relaxes his shoulders and unstiffens his posture, sinking into the barstool.  
It’s kind of relieving to hear Iwaizumi getting nervous.  
“I’m not judging you or anything.”

“I realize that this doesn’t really provide much, uh, quality time to hang out or anything,” Iwaizumi says a little sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

Tooru huffs a laugh.  
“It’s cool. I don’t mind just watching you work. I think we’ve already established that we don’t need to do, like… date stuff, to hang out.”

“Can I get you a drink or anything? On me,” Iwaizumi offers.

Tooru waves a hand dismissively. “Nah, it’s probably better if I don’t take any alcohol. Don’t have a drive home, and I’m pretty lightweight.”

The middle bartender taps Iwaizumi on the shoulder.  
“Iwa, mind getting a peach daiquiri for me?” he asks with a lazy grin.

Iwaizumi scoffs at him, lightly shoving the man’s shoulder.  
“Get it yourself, Kuroo. Unless _you’re_ ordering it, then pay up.”

The man, Kuroo, gestures to the three girls sitting in front of him and says pointedly, “I am currently engaging in a very lovely conversation, Iwa. I’d hate to put it on pause.”

“Then quit your job,” Iwaizumi rolls his eyes.

Kuroo turns to the bartender on the far right and begins to pester him instead, though from the glare of the right bartender, he’s not going to get far.

Iwaizumi slides his finished drink to the customer from before as he calls to Kuroo, “And stop bothering Semi. _He’s_ sure as hell not gonna make your drink.”

Kuroo huffs a sigh as he turns around and begins preparing the drink himself, and the bar seems to fall into a flow for a while.

Tooru finds himself watching Iwaizumi’s movements as he makes drinks.  
He wears a tie with his outfit, and his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows.

Tooru recalls him mentioning about going to the gym with his friend Akaashi. He must work out regularly, with how the seams on his rolled up sleeves almost threaten to tear when he moves his arms in certain ways.

Otherwise, Iwaizumi moves in an almost elegant way, in the way he slides the drinks across the counter, or the way he pours the liquid into glasses.  
He’s a professional charmer, flashing handsome smiles at customers as he takes their orders.

Professional charmer actually describes Iwaizumi perfectly, Tooru thinks.

“You’re staring,” Iwaizumi notes to the side amusedly as he hands off another drink.

Tooru blinks, realizing he’s talking to him, and becomes acutely aware of his own eyes.  
He darts them down to the dark counter, but shyly brings them back up to look at Iwaizumi’s beaming face.  
“You’re just… very pretty. It’s hard _not_ to stare.”

That seems to shift Iwaizumi’s cool demeanor for once. His movements falter, if ever so slightly, and he blinks a couple times before regaining control of his hands.  
It’s only for a second, but Tooru notices it.  
Is… is Iwaizumi’s face a little red? Or is it just the light from the bar?

Iwaizumi breathes a laugh and avoids Tooru’s eyes as he mumbles, “See? I _do_ get flustered.”

Oh. Now _Tooru’s_ face is heating up.

Iwaizumi barks a proper laugh as he continues on with his drink-making.  
“Hey, don’t go getting flustered, too.”

Tooru smiles at him, but he gives himself a little mental cheer at seeing Iwaizumi get a little embarrassed.  
Iwaizumi’s co-workers are giving him side glances, though. Tooru’s not really sure what that means, but he decides he’ll figure it out if they talk to him. Which they don’t seem to want to do.

They make idle conversation whenever they can, though the club starts to really fill up around 9 PM, when one of the bands starts playing in the next room.  
Once the music starts, the bar clears out a bit, so Iwaizumi gets more time to… well, to yell over the blaring drums at Tooru.

Despite being in the next room over, the band is clearly heard from the bar, and it’s _loud_. Tooru can only imagine how loud it is from the mosh pit.  
They settle on just listening to the songs for the most part.

The music isn’t actually all that bad. It’s not something Tooru would typically listen to, but he doesn’t dislike the genre.  
Iwaizumi explains that they usually have certain nights scheduled for certain genres of music, and tonight happens to be a punk rock night.

Iwaizumi’s co-workers seem practically unaffected by the loud music - the bartender on the far right, Semi, seems to actually enjoy the music quite a bit, bopping his head along to the beat.  
Iwaizumi even taps his fingers on the counter to the music himself.

During an intermission between bands, the bar gets a bit crowded again, and they’re back to conversing whenever Iwaizumi has time to chat on the side.

Tooru’s watching him mix juices and vodka together when a man shoves his way onto the barstool next to Tooru.  
Tooru would have just ignored the guy, had he not practically yanked the previous customer out of the seat to sit down in the stool.

He’s exactly the kind of person Tooru would imagine to embody “punk rock”. He has an undercut, blonde hair slicked back, piercing in his ears, leather jacket, the whole thing.

“Yooo, Hajime! You’re still workin’!” he calls, waving his hand despite sitting right in front of Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi lifts his head from where he’s mixing and flashes a friendly smile.  
“Yuuji, hey. You playing tonight?”

“Yuuji” sticks his tongue out with a smirk as he chirps, “Yeah, after this band! You should ditch the bar and come watch!”  
Tooru can see a silver stud embedded in his tongue. Just to really top off his image.

Yuuji sounds like a first name, Tooru realizes. They’re on a first-name basis?  
Tooru doesn’t really stop the frown that settles on his face.

Iwaizumi shrugs, pushing his mixed drink to a customer to the right of Yuuji.  
“No can do. Gotta work.”

Yuuji makes a whining sound, throwing his head back dramatically.  
“Awwww, c’mon! You gotta see me perform! I’m the hottest when I’m all sweaty on stage and rockin’ a guitar!”

Tooru decides to not deny his feelings - he doesn’t like this guy.  
He doesn’t have any reason to, he hasn’t even introduced himself to the guy, but he just… doesn’t like him.

Iwaizumi puts his hand on his hip as he faces Yuuji.  
“Are you gonna order a drink, or did you just come by to see my face?”  
He raises an eyebrow, and Tooru suddenly feels awkward and stiff, the heat completely gone from his face, from his entire body.

Yuuji gives him a toothy grin, scrunching his nose up a little as he chuckles.  
“Admit it, you wanted to see _my_ face! Y’know, if you’re not busy after the show, we can-”

“Think your bandmate is calling you,” Iwaizumi interrupts, gesturing behind Yuuji.

Yuuji (and Tooru) turns to see a man standing by the hallway back to the lobby room, spouting a similar undercut with golden blonde hair. His fringe swoops over his hooded eyes though, and he has a smirk that rivals Kuroo’s in sleaziness.

Yuuji pouts a bit, but ultimately stands up.  
“Aw, well. You’ll hear the music from here. I’ll come by after the show to hear what you think!”  
Without another word, he trots over to his bandmate, who turns and leaves with him.

Iwaizumi had interrupted that last bit, but Tooru definitely caught on to what Yuuji was saying at the end.  
And it makes Tooru’s stomach churn.

“Sorry about him,” Iwaizumi says calmly, “He’s a lot.”

Tooru turns back to Iwaizumi, not sure what to say, but his face apparently says more than he can, because Iwaizumi scratches the back of his neck.

“He’s Yuuji Terushima. We had, uh, a couple… flings before I started going to mixers and stuff. Before you and I met, I mean. We’re not, like, doing anything now, though. He’s just a big flirt, no matter who he’s talking to.”

Yuuji Terushima. Tooru can’t even picture him and Iwaizumi as… _anything_ , fling, couple, whatever.  
Is that the kind of guy Iwaizumi was into? _Is_ into?  
Piercings, leather jacket, punk rock…

Iwaizumi hadn’t even said anything about him and Tooru to Terushima, either.  
Tooru knows that might be unreasonable, especially giving their relationship such a loose title as “relationship thing”, but he still feels like he’s somehow been indirectly dumped.

He slides off the barstool, waves of exhaustion and nausea coming over him.

“Woah, you okay, Oikawa?” Iwaizumi asks, moving to come around the counter to reach out to him.

Tooru shoots him a weak smile (it’s clearly fake, he knows that) and mutters, “Think my hangover just caught up to me, that’s all. I’m gonna head out for now.”

Iwaizumi’s mouth pulls into a tight line, his expression unreadable.  
“I guess it was pretty intense for someone who’s never been,” he says, trying to crack a smile, but looking just as weak as Tooru’s. “It’s cool. Want me to walk you out?”

Tooru shakes his head, not quite meeting Iwaizumi’s eyes.

Iwaizumi replies slowly, voice sounding strained and awkward, “Alright. Careful on your way back, then. Have a good night.”

Tooru flops onto his bed as soon as he gets home and falls asleep almost immediately.

A week passes and they don’t really talk much.  
Mattsun notices something wrong before a week even passes, but Tooru keeps avoiding him so he doesn’t have to talk about it.

Tooru’s never really considered himself a jealous person, but he realizes that may only be because he’s never been in a relationship like this.  
Jealousy makes him feel stupid, though.  
It makes him feel like he’s getting all worked up and sulking over nothing, or that he’s finding issues where there aren’t really any.

Realistically, he knows that Iwaizumi dodged Terushima’s obvious advances and hasn’t actually shown any interest in Terushima; he even told Tooru about his past relationship with Terushima to try to put him at ease.

And Tooru knows he should trust Iwaizumi that he’s not secretly sleeping with someone else while he and Tooru have this relationship thing going on, but…  
Jealousy is a real monster, he finds.

Once his shoulder heals, he’s able to busy his mind with practice for a bit. He puts his all into volleyball and works hard to keep himself active.  
But only a half week later, his shoulder relapses and he’s taken off the starting lineup for the rest of the season to heal.

It’s the salt in his open wound, the kick to his bruise, the fuel to his flame, and Tooru holes himself up in his room for a couple days.

Mattsun tries to lecture them the days after Tooru’s sent home, but after Tooru locks himself in his room, Mattsun mostly leaves him alone.  
It’s not often that Tooru gets like this, but Mattsun usually leaves him alone when he does, letting Tooru sort himself out.

But one day he wakes up in the morning to find a wide-eyed familiar face sitting in his desk chair, legs slung over the armrest of the creaking chair.

Tooru’s not even sure what day it is, let alone the time. He’s kind of just let days pass by for the past week; he’s kind of lost track by now.  
He sits up, rubbing his eyes. He’s lucky he’s actually wearing a shirt this time, though he highly doubts his friend would even mind otherwise.

“Morning!” Bokuto chirps, slightly jostling the chair so it creaks more.

Tooru glances at the clock on the ledge over his bed. It’s about 6:30 AM. What the actual hell.  
“What are you… doing here?” Tooru groggily asks, wondering if Bokuto would just leave if he laid back down and went back to sleep.

Bokuto’s making the chair squeak more, and it’s getting on Tooru’s nerves now.  
“Mattsun told me that your shoulder’s pretty bad. He’s out right now, but I wanted to check up on you,” Bokuto says, a serious undertone in his voice.

Tooru hazily reaches up to squeeze his own shoulder, wincing slightly when he squeezes a bit too hard.  
He _should_ be wearing a shoulder brace at all times until he’s fully healed, but he finds it uncomfortable, so he skips out on wearing it most of the time. What his doctor doesn’t know won’t kill him, he figures.  
“It’s my fault. The doctor told me to ease myself back into practice once I got back, but I pushed it.”

“You go pretty hard with volleyball, huh?”

“I had a lot on my mind,” Tooru half-heartedly snaps.  
He’s too tired to actually get angry, and all his frustration had simmered out over the past couple of days holed up in his room. He doesn’t really have it in his heart to fully snap at Bokuto, anyway.

Bokuto tilts his head, sits up in the chair as he pries, “Oh? What’s up?”  
He pulls his legs down to plant them to the floor and gives Tooru his full attention.

Actually, he’s _so_ attentive that it makes Tooru a little nervous. Bokuto’s attention is usually a bit scattered, but Tooru guesses Bokuto’s pretty good at listening when it counts.  
He’s a good friend, like an actually good friend.

Tooru awkwardly explains his situation and his feelings.  
He’s not exactly used to confiding in others with his problems. Mattsun’s always an open ear, but Tooru prefers to just hold onto his own problems rather than ask for help.  
It’s not that he has trouble relying on people, he just figures he can fix things himself most of the time.

But Bokuto just has an air about him that makes him feel dependable.  
There’s a raw emotion that Tooru can’t name in pouring his thoughts out to Bokuto. Maybe it’s only heightened because he’s only just woken up, but he finds his throat tight by the time he finishes talking.

Bokuto sits for a moment, absorbing everything thoughtfully.  
Tooru’s not even sure what Bokuto could say to all his venting, but Bokuto leans forward in the chair and meets Tooru’s eyes.

“Have you… talked to Iwaizumi about this, Oikawa?” Bokuto asks, quirking his eyebrow slightly in question.

Tooru fidgets with the hem of his shirt, eyes drifting down to the floor.  
“I… don’t really know how to. It’s just, like, stupid insecurities.”

Bokuto huffs a laugh (or maybe a scoff, but Tooru’s going to believe otherwise) and his serious face melts back into a bouncy expression.  
“It’s not stupid if it’s bothering you, though.”

Tooru’s not sure what else to say to that. A thread comes loose from the hem on his shirt and he begins picking at it.  
The string starts unravelling, and Tooru tries to rip it off but only succeeds in pulling the thread more.

Bokuto continues after a pause, “If it’s bothering you, don’t you think it’s bothering Iwaizumi, too?”

Tooru glances up at Bokuto, beaming with his whole face.  
His throat feels dry, and he sits as still as he can, his mind still slightly hazy.

“Wanna know somethin’, Oiks?” Bokuto pulls his legs up into the chair, somehow finding space in the small chair to hug his knees to his chest without falling off.  
“When Akaashi and I started dating, I was really really nervous. I hadn’t been in a long-term relationship before, and I was worried I wouldn’t be enough for him, or that I wasn’t a good enough partner or whatever.”

Tooru attempts to rip his loose thread off again, but continues to rip his shirt’s seam.  
He listens intently though, recalling that Bokuto asked for advice a couple weeks ago.

“But after you and Mattsun told me to talk to him, I found out that he was actually just as worried as I was!”  
He rocks a little in the chair, causing it to squeak.  
“I had all these, like, misconceptions in my head about him. That he knew what he was doing, or that he was looking down on me as a partner, stuff like that. I had this idea of him in my head that ended up being completely different from the actual person.”

Bokuto puts his legs down from the chair and rolls it closer to the bed where Tooru sits.  
“Since I had this different concept of Akaashi in my head, I kind of started expecting things from him. Like, I thought things I was feeling were obvious and he was just ignoring them. But you know what?”

Tooru looks back up at Bokuto, letting go of the long thread.  
His face is a little more serious, but his eyes are still wide with attentiveness.

“People observe in different ways, and you can’t just expect people to know things, obvious or not. Even if my emotions _were_ obvious, if I’m not the one bringing them up, no one else is obligated to, you know? It’s not Akaashi’s job to ask what’s wrong with me if I don’t say anything, and the same goes for Iwaizumi. There’s no reason he should believe otherwise if you said nothing was wrong with you.”

Bokuto leans back in the chair, crossing his arms like he’s thinking.  
“Of course, it goes both ways. Confrontation can be a little scary, but it’s never nearly as bad as you think it is.”

Tooru lets it all sink in for a moment.  
It makes sense, he knows that. Bokuto’s partially just spitting Tooru’s advice back to him, but he has his own wisdom, too.  
There’s just one more thing Tooru’s concerned about…

“Uh,” Tooru begins nervously, “I… I really like him. I don’t want this thing to end between us, and I’m really worried it might if I bring all this stuff up.”

Bokuto tilts his head a little in confusion.  
“Iwaizumi himself said that he likes you too, right? Why would his feelings suddenly change?”  
When Tooru says nothing, Bokuto continues with a grin, “You know Oikawa, not all confrontations or disagreements have to end badly or in a breakup.”

Hearing it out loud is obvious; there’s no actual reason for Iwaizumi’s feelings to change. But somehow, Tooru feels like his mind’s been blown.

Tooru slides out of bed and in one swift pluck, he tears the loose thread off of his shirt.  
“I’m gonna go out,” he mumbles, crossing the room to rummage in his dresser for clothes.

Bokuto watches him with a satisfied expression. He stands up from the chair and slaps Tooru’s non-injured shoulder.  
Tooru makes sure to thank Bokuto before he leaves, though Bokuto insists that he didn’t really do all that much.

Tooru makes a note to buy Bokuto lunch sometime.

It’s been rainy all day, and it seems like the overcast sky stretches into the afternoon, too.  
It doesn’t help Tooru’s mood or his nerves.

He’s fine on the bus to the other side of town, but when he’s standing in front of Iwaizumi’s door, he gets all anxious all over again.  
He’s actually been standing outside of Iwaizumi’s door for about two minutes.  
He’s hyping himself up, going through conversations in his head, though he figures he’ll probably just forget everything as soon as he sees Iwaizumi’s face.

Tooru takes a deep breath and goes to knock - only for the door to fly open before he can even lift his hand.  
Iwaizumi crashes into him - into his injured shoulder, to be exact - and Tooru reels back with a small yelp.

Iwaizumi gasps, stepping back and scanning Tooru’s face, surprise clear on his face.  
“Shit, sorry, are you okay?” he moves closer, noticing the way Tooru’s holding his shoulder.

Tooru’s shoulder is burning, but he launches into his pre-planned preface loosely, “Uh, sorry for not texting or calling or anything for like a week, there’s been a lot going on. I wanted to, uh, come talk about some stuff, but if you’re about to head out or something, I can, uh, come back some other time?”

It’s sloppy and not nearly as eloquent as Tooru had planned for it to be, and his face is kind of heating up with embarrassment and awkwardness, but there it is, he’s said it.

Iwaizumi’s breathes a shallow laugh as he reaches up to brush aside a piece of hair on top of Tooru’s head.  
He steps to the side and gestures into his apartment, “I was actually just about to come to your place, believe it or not. C’mon.”

Tooru steps into Iwaizumi’s neat apartment quietly. His first hurdle is cleared, at the very least.  
Now comes the hard part.

“Hey,” Iwaizumi starts as he leads Tooru over to the living room couch. “Uh, I sort of heard that you got injured. You okay?”

Tooru realizes he’s still holding his shoulder and drops his hand quickly, sitting down on Iwaizumi’s couch.  
“I’m okay,” he says through his tight jaw. “How’d you hear?”

Iwaizumi rubs the back of his neck, sheepishly chuckling.  
“Hanamaki. He said Matsukawa was worried about you, though I didn’t hear all that much about what was going on. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“It’s tender, but I’m off for the season so it can heal,” Tooru mumbles miserably.  
Iwaizumi gives him a concerned look and Tooru shakes his head, bringing himself back on track.  
“That’s not what I’m here for. I wanted to talk about what’s been on my mind lately.”

Iwaizumi scoots closer to him, eyes meeting Tooru’s.  
Tooru swallows. Here goes nothing.

“About last week… uh, about Terushima, actually,” he stutters awkwardly, fidgeting his fingers in his lap.  
Iwaizumi breathes out softly in a way that hints that he knows what it’s about, but he says nothing, so Tooru continues, “Uh, I was a little uncomfortable, that’s all. I might have gotten a little jealous.”

Iwaizumi smiles softly, running a hand through his short hair.  
“Yeah, I kind of… figured. You looked like it,” he says sheepishly.  
Tooru frowns, and Iwaizumi quickly continues before Tooru can think to say anything, “I didn’t want to say anything to you if you didn’t want to talk about it. Sorry, I really should have said something, though.”

It’s like Bokuto said, though. It isn’t Iwaizumi’s job to bring up Tooru’s feelings, whether Tooru wears them on his sleeve or not. And yet here he is, apologizing anyway.

“No, I mean…” Tooru shifts a little where he’s sitting. “I shouldn’t have just walked out like that. I promise I’m not normally a possessive person or anything.”

Iwaizumi chuckles gently. “No, but I should have said something to Yuuji. He probably would have backed off if I had just mentioned our relationship.”

“Well, I guess that’s probably part of my fault anyway, with how loose I was in labelling this whole relationship thing.”  
Tooru’s easing up, relaxing his shoulders.  
“Guess I have a jealous side of me. Sorry you had to see it.”

Iwaizumi shakes his head.  
“I’m glad I got to see it. Makes me feel like you actually like me,” he jokes.

“I _do_ actually like you,” Tooru scoffs automatically, without thinking.  
He reels his mind back a bit once the words are out of his mouth, and he ends up getting a little shy about saying it so upfront.  
He clears his throat with a curt chuckle, covering himself up, “Anyway, I’ll do better with keeping the ugly parts of me down.”

Iwaizumi grins, inching closer to Tooru so their thighs press against each other.  
“It’s not ugly, it’s just another part of you. You don’t have to be embarrassed about being jealous or anything. I like you all the same. It’s not like finding out about your jealousy has changed any of my feelings about you.”

Tooru thinks his heart skips at that. His face is definitely a little warm.  
“Stoooop,” he murmurs, laughing, “I’m already flustered.”

Iwaizumi leans closer, shoulder brushing with Tooru’s.  
“You’re cute,” he replies softly.

It sounds so different when it’s said out loud as opposed to text.  
Damn, Tooru’s heart is pounding. Professional charmer. Yup, that’s perfect for Iwaizumi.

“I’m literally going to have a heart attack.”

Iwaizumi slides an arm around Tooru’s waist, pulling their bodies flush against each other.  
“Then you may not like this next question; can I kiss you?”

YES YES YES is what Tooru’s brain instantly screams.  
He holds himself back from yelling that, though. He doesn’t have to admit that he’s been waiting for this ever since they met. Even if he has.

“You’re such a gentleman,” Tooru mumbles shyly, “You don’t have to ask for something like that.”

He lets Iwaizumi’s fingers trace his cheekbones, fingernail tenderly sliding under his eye, trailing down to run his thumb over Tooru’s chin.  
Tooru watches his eyes the whole time, getting lost in the emerald green that sweeps around Tooru’s face, eyes hooded as they land on Tooru’s lips.

Iwaizumi leans forward, and Tooru instinctively closes his eyes. There’s the briefest of pauses before Iwaizumi presses their lips together, but Tooru notices it.  
But the kiss overtakes any other thought in his mind.

Tooru’s no stranger to kissing. He’s kissed plenty of people, especially in the past years he’s hopped around mixers.  
Few of them were actual kisses and rather rushed, sloppy make-outs resulting in shallow attraction that never lasted long. Even the ones that _were_ actual kisses weren’t exactly affectionate or anything, still just the outcome of passing attraction.

It’s different kissing someone he’s actually fond of. Something about it is so much softer, so much more _intimate_.  
Maybe it feels better after resolving issues or something.

The point is, Iwaizumi kisses him and Tooru _melts_.

He’s so caught up in the kiss that he doesn’t quite register the way Iwaizumi’s hands are combing through his hair soothingly until he feels Iwaizumi carefully pull a tangle loose.  
He realizes he should probably do something with his hands too; they’re just sitting in his lap awkwardly.

But just as he thinks that, Iwaizumi pulls back and their eyes meet again.

“Did you hesitate?” Tooru teases with a small chuckle, finally getting his hands on Iwaizumi’s face, caressing his cheek.

Iwaizumi leans into it like a cat, closing his eyes and humming, “You looked so pretty, I forgot for a split second that we were kissing and I wasn’t supposed to just look at you.”

Tooru thinks about just burying his face into Iwaizumi’s again, but instead leans forward and presses their foreheads together.  
Iwaizumi’s eyes flutter open, and _god_ , Tooru thinks he can almost feel them brush against his skin.

“You should come to see me at work again tonight,” Iwaizumi murmurs, his hands sliding down to comfortably rest at the back of Tooru’s neck.  
He pulls, and he kisses Tooru again, short and brief this time.  
“We’ve got some lost time to make up for. About a week, to be exact.”

Tooru purrs happily into his lips, “I’ll be there.”

Tooru easily finds his way to the club, and the bouncer seems to recognize him immediately.  
Which is impressive, considering Tooru’s only been to the club once and it was a week ago, but he supposes the guy just has a good memory. Probably why he’s the bouncer in the first place.

He heads down the hall to the bar as soon as he steps in the door, and finds that Iwaizumi actually isn’t there yet.  
The bar is virtually empty anyway, though it seems like none of the bands have played yet, so Tooru figures once the music starts, the crowds will start pushing their way in.

One of the bartenders notices Tooru lingering around the hallway and waves him over.

Kuroo, if Tooru recalls correctly, gestures for Tooru to sit down in front of him.  
“Sup. If you’re waiting on Iwa, he’s in the back getting dressed. Should be out in a bit. Can I get you a drink in the meantime?”  
He grins, flashing his teeth.

“No, I’m fine,” Tooru waves him off. “How did you know I was waiting for him?”

Kuroo’s grin turns into more of a smirk as he chirps, “He asked if you’d come by on the days he wasn’t working. You two together or somethin’?”

Tooru squirms in his seat a little. It’s actually kind of endearing that Iwaizumi would ask, but he also kind of feels bad for leaving Iwaizumi hanging like that.  
“Uh, well, kind of? It’s, uh, complicated,” Tooru says awkwardly.

“Kuroo, you’re making him uncomfortable,” the bartender to Kuroo’s left hisses. “Leave him alone. Iwa will probably get mad if you bother him too much.”

Kuroo shrugs dramatically, sighing. “I’m just keepin’ him company until Iwa gets here. You should try making some friends too, Semi.”

Semi shoots Kuroo a glare but says nothing else, so Kuroo turns back to Tooru.

“You sure you don’t want a drink?” he asks, then gestures to a marker board behind him. “We’ve got a special for tonight.”

Semi pipes up flatly, “He probably doesn’t want to be drunk if he’s meeting up with Iwa. Get the hint, Kuroo.”

He’s not wrong, but Tooru probably would have put it a bit more politely.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Kuroo snaps mildly.

Semi breaks into a small smirk, seemingly satisfied.  
“Nope. Night rush hasn’t come in yet.”

Kuroo rolls his eyes as Semi slides over to them, officially joining their conversation.

“Y’know, now that I think about it, Iwa hasn’t been seeing anyone lately, has he? I mean, other than this guy.” Kuroo mumbles idly as Semi rearranges some of Kuroo’s things behind the counter.

“Your section is so messy…” Semi mutters to himself before replying to Kuroo, “Well yeah, Kuroo. If they’re seeing each other, they likely won’t go around seeing anyone else.”

Kuroo scoffs, swatting at Semi’s hands.  
“Quit it, everything’s organized how I like it. All I’m saying is that Iwa isn’t the type to settle.”

Semi shoots a sharper glare than before at Kuroo.  
“ _Kuroo_ , he’s right there. Don’t say something like that in front of him.”

Tooru suddenly feels awkward, but he’s not really sure what to add to the conversation.  
He doesn’t really mind the subject, but he doesn’t know what these two are expecting him to say.

“It’s just a bit of gossip. What about that undercut guy Iwa was seeing?” Kuroo begins putting the things Semi had moved back around.

“Dude, literally read the room,” Semi nudges Kuroo, exasperated. “Iwa clearly isn’t seeing him anymore if this guy is seeing him.”

Tooru figures that’s the one thing he can slip into the conversation.  
“Uh, my name is Tooru Oikawa,” he introduces himself awkwardly, picking at the edge of the barstool he’s sitting in.

“Shame,” Kuroo shrugs, unfazed, “That guy was pretty cute. What was his name? Terushima? If he comes by again and Iwa’s done with him, I might make a move.”

Semi scoffs, “Assuming he’d even be into you. If his type is Iwa, _you’re_ definitely not his type.”

Kuroo groans, leaning on the counter. “Dude, Iwa’s _everyone’s_ type. I’m probably way more charming than him, anyway. What do you think, Oikawa?”  
He suddenly turns to Tooru, throwing a wink over his shoulder.

Tooru can definitely agree that Iwaizumi is everyone’s type - a dependable, polite, understanding guy.  
He doesn’t mean any offence and maybe he’s biased, but Kuroo is nowhere _near_ as charming as Iwaizumi, though.

Semi sighs, shaking his head a little. “You can just ignore him, Oikawa. Flirting is all he’s got going for him.”

Tooru chuckles softly, resting his elbows on the counter and propping his chin up in the palm of his hand.  
“I think you’re asking the wrong person. I’m going to think Iwaizumi’s more charming no matter what.”

Kuroo feigns shock and despair, clutching his chest, as Semi cracks a grin.  
“We’re gonna get along great,” Semi snorts, shrugging Kuroo off when the latter dramatically drapes himself over Semi’s shoulders.

“How could this happen… Iwa overtaking me in charm...” Kuroo exaggeratedly wails, flopping over the counter in defeat.

A deeper, familiar voice replies from behind Tooru accompanied by a hand that rests on Tooru’s shoulder gently, “I don’t think you ever had a chance, Kuroo.”

Tooru spins around to find Iwaizumi approaching the counter, dressed up in his waistcoat and tie. He grins at Tooru when he passes by, his hand lingering on Tooru just a bit longer.  
“Hope these two weren’t bothering you too much,” he says pointedly as he slips behind the counter.

Tooru breathes a laugh.  
“Nah, they were just keeping me company. You look good.”  
That last bit sort of just… slips out of Tooru’s mouth without his meaning to, but Iwaizumi gives him that ever-charming lopsided grin and Tooru figures it’s better he said it.

Kuroo continues to whine, “Semisemi, switch places with me. I can’t work next to this guy! He’s gonna steal all my customers!”

Iwaizumi scrunches up his nose when he laughs, and it’s… very cute.  
“Maybe watch and learn, Kuroo. You might pick up some tips by working next to me.”

There’s a commotion from the lobby room that Tooru guesses is the first band of the night arriving. Judging by the sounds of chatter, more people are starting to fill in.  
Semi moves back to his own spot at the end of the bar, and Tooru slides down the bar to sit on Iwaizumi’s end.

The people start to flit in and out of the bar, chatter constantly filling the bar.  
Semi seems to be back to being withdrawn and quiet, working his end efficiently and swiftly. And Kuroo’s chatting up customers more than working, same as last time.

Iwaizumi’s focus stays on Tooru for the most part, making idle chat in between taking orders and making drinks.  
They don’t even really talk about much. Tooru tells Iwaizumi about how after he left Iwaizumi’s apartment earlier that day, he found Hanamaki at his apartment with Mattsun.  
Iwaizumi tells Tooru about how Bokuto’s started coming over to his place to hang out with him now too.

Tooru jumps slightly when a gruff voice approaches the bar, calling to Iwaizumi.

“Hajime, you’re back!”

He shifts to spot Terushima, sauntering over closer to where he sits. Terushima takes a seat next to Tooru as Iwaizumi turns to him, hands on his hip.

“Yup. I’m back. ‘Cause I work here.”  
He throws a glance at Tooru that Tooru almost misses, but he notices.

Terushima laughs, maybe a little too hard, but Tooru won’t say anything.  
“Aww, Hajime, don’t be so cold! I’m pretty much stuck here while the buses are out!”

Tooru perks up, looking to Terushima.  
“The buses are out?” he echoes, blinking.

Terushima looks at him like he hadn’t noticed Tooru was even sitting there, answering, “Huh? Oh, yeah, it started raining pretty hard. The buses can’t drive super far because of the heavy rain, so they’re out for the evening. Think the trains are closed, too.”

Tooru hadn’t even heard it start raining over the noise of the club. Though now, if he really listens, he thinks he can hear a bit of thunder… unless that’s from the stage room.  
It’s kind of hard to tell.

Iwaizumi catches the frown on Tooru’s face and casually offers, “Wanna stay at my place for the night?”

Tooru whips his head back around to face Iwaizumi, taken aback by the sudden offer.  
He’s been to Iwaizumi’s apartment plenty of times, but he’s never actually stayed the night. Unless…  
Is there an undertone that Tooru’s not picking up on? Or does Iwaizumi really _just_ mean “stay the night”? Shit. Tooru’s not good at this.

Before he can say anything, though, Terushima hums in response.  
He faces Tooru and asks flatly, “Huh? Who are you?”

They still haven’t given it a label. Should Tooru just tell him they’re in a relationship? That they’re seeing each other? They _did_ just kiss earlier…

Iwaizumi chirps, “He’s my boyfriend. We’re dating.”

Tooru makes a noise - something actually fairly similar to the shocked noise that Terushima makes. Terushima glances at him too, raising an eyebrow.  
But Iwaizumi flashes that infamous toothy grin, and Tooru’s heart melts. He suddenly feels like crying, but not because he’s sad.

“Aww,” Terushima complains openly, “So you settled, huh? Damn. Well, whatever.”  
He starts to leave, a flippant expression, but Tooru catches the slight scrunch of his nose in slight annoyance.  
“Hey,” Terushima calls over his shoulder before he gets out of earshot.

Tooru lifts his head to glance at him, and he meets Terushima’s eyes for the first time.  
He can’t quite label the expression, but Terushima barks, “Well, whenever you’re done with Hajime, send him my way, yeah?”

God, the audacity on this one.  
It must be the jealousy, or rather the triumphant feeling of seeing Terushima walk away like that, but a surge of confidence pulses through Tooru long enough for him to spit back at him with a smile, “Don’t hold your breath. I don’t plan on sending him anywhere else.”

There’s absolutely no denying that the look Terushima flashes him makes Tooru feel incredibly smug, but he says nothing else as Terushima leaves down the hall.

He hears a low whistle to his right and turns back to where the bartenders are looking at him. He suddenly feels sheepish about his line, and he squirms in his seat as Kuroo cracks a huge grin.

Iwaizumi, on the other hand, is rubbing the back of his neck shyly as well.  
He gives Tooru a bashful look, and Tooru can clearly see the blush on his cheeks this time.

“I was gonna apologize for Yuuji again, but that kind of made me all embarrassed,” Iwaizumi mumbles, chuckling a little.

Tooru shakes off how cute it is (it’s _very_ cute) and asks, “Y-you said we were dating.”

Iwaizumi tilts his head a little as he replies, “Aren’t we?”

“We are!” Tooru answers, probably a little too quickly.  
He thinks he prefers that term at this point, anyway.  
“It was just… weird to hear you call me that. Good weird, I mean.”

Iwaizumi snorts, “What, boyfriend? You can call me yours too, if you want.”

“You’re doing that thing again where you’re stupidly charming, stop it,” Tooru mumbles, hands covering his reddening face.

“‘Stupidly?’ And I’m just talking like normal,” Iwaizumi retorts.

Kuroo groans, shrugging his shoulders, “That’s so unfair, Iwa. You’re not even trying and the poor guy is already a blushing mess.”

Iwaizumi snorts, reaching over and ruffling Tooru’s hair, “A talent, I guess. Comes with a prize, too.”  
His fingers brush over Tooru’s cheek.

Kuroo makes a gagging sound.  
“Ew, stop, we’re still working.”

The night ends early due to the rain. Once the bands stop playing and the people filter out of the club, Tooru can hear the pounding of the rain much more clearly.  
He sends a quick text to Mattsun notifying him that he’s staying at Iwaizumi’s for the night.  
Mattsun replies back with a winking emoji and Tooru promptly ignores it.

Iwaizumi’s apartment is just around the block, so they sprint down the sidewalks to the building.  
They get drenched in the process, and Tooru almost slips going up the stairs to Iwaizumi’s apartment, but they make it inside without much trouble.

“Make yourself at home,” Iwaizumi calls as he dips into the bathroom to grab towels.

Tooru’s not exactly a stranger to Iwaizumi’s apartment, but he just stands in the doorway, not wanting to drip water all through his house.  
Iwaizumi laughs at him when he comes back, though.

“You don’t have to be so polite,” Iwaizumi hums as he leads Tooru by the hand into the living room.

His hand is warm and damp, but Tooru doesn’t really mind. They’ve only held hands a couple times in the past weeks, but Tooru still gets shy about it whenever they do.  
Iwaizumi’s fingers lace between Tooru’s so comfortably that Tooru just swoons every single time.  
He swoons every time he gets to touch Iwaizumi in any capacity, though, be it Iwaizumi ruffling his hair or simply bumping shoulders with him.

They sit on the couch and dry their hair off, though that doesn’t help their soaked clothes making wet spots on the cushions.

They sit in relative silence, the pounding of the rain outside filling the space between them.  
The more Tooru sits in his thoughts, the more nervous he’s getting about the whole situation.

The best way to know is to just ask, right? It’ll be extremely awkward if he’s got the wrong idea, but…

“You can use the shower,” Iwaizumi says before Tooru can get the question out.

Tooru has to backtrack in his mind to actually grasp what Iwaizumi said.  
“Oh, yeah, sure,” he says, standing up.

“Feel free to use the shampoo and stuff, whatever you need,” Iwaizumi calls as Tooru’s making his way to the hall.

Before Tooru can turn down the hall, out of range from Iwaizumi, he glances over his shoulder.  
Might as well get it out of the way.  
“Uh, hey, Iwaizumi?”

“Hm?”

Tooru swallows his pride and his nerves.  
“Um, when you invited me to stay the night, did you… want to do it?”  
Tooru’s a grown-ass adult, but he’s still skirting around the word like some teenager. He blames the nerves.

Iwaizumi’s eyes widen for a moment, but he doesn’t look particularly shocked.  
He scratches his cheek a little shyly as he replies, “Oh, I mean… we can, if you want. I really did just invite you because it’s storming out, but I don’t mind if you wanted something else.”

Oh god, Tooru’s starting to burn up.  
He squeaks out a vague _okay!_ before speeding down the hall and into the bathroom.

Admittedly, Tooru’s showers are fairly long, but he makes sure not to spend a worrying amount of time in it.  
Still, though, he mostly uses the time standing around in hot water, trying to comprehend what will happen when he steps out.

Iwaizumi will definitely want to take a shower too, so that gives Tooru more time to mentally prepare himself.

Tooru sees the coconut shampoo he uses, and when he goes to use it in his hair, he’s practically swimming in Iwaizumi’s scent.  
He’s being creepy. He forces himself back on track.

Iwaizumi didn’t seem all that nervous or worried.  
This wouldn’t be his first time, huh?

Tooru kicks himself at that.  
Obviously it wouldn’t be his first time, he already said he and Terushima had a thing going on a while back.  
...Has Terushima used this shower before? Used this shampoo?

Dammit, it’s no use getting jealous when Tooru’s already won.

Besides, it’s not like Tooru’s never done it, either.  
Sure, the handful of times he did, it was with people he doesn’t even remember the names of now, but that’s not the point.

Still, he’s never done it with someone he’s in a committed relationship with.  
Geez, that sounds so intimidating. “Committed” relationship. Well, that _is_ what dating is, though.

…Iwaizumi’s shampoo smells extremely nice.

He even lends Tooru some of his clothes to sleep in, and they smell just like Iwaizumi as well.

In the end, Tooru steps out of the shower exactly in the same mental state as when he stepped in.  
Except maybe he’s still kind of swooning over smelling like Iwaizumi. He should stop that, it would probably sound creepy if he said that out loud.

Iwaizumi ducks into the bathroom soon after Tooru, and Tooru goes to wait in Iwaizumi’s bedroom. They don’t say much between the exchange, but Tooru doesn’t even know what he’d say.

It’s late now, almost 11:30 PM. If they did it, wouldn’t it be kind of noisy? Wouldn’t Iwaizumi’s neighbors be bothered?

He spends the full 25 minutes that Iwaizumi is in the shower sitting on his bed, worrying about things like that.  
And when Iwaizumi appears in the doorway of his bedroom, Tooru's pulse skyrockets.

Iwaizumi casually scrubs his hair with the towel that hangs around his neck and takes a seat next to Tooru on the bed, so close that their thighs press against each other.

Tooru can’t find words when Iwaizumi leans forward and kisses him briefly, gently pushing Tooru to lay on his back.

Tooru’s working sentences through his head as Iwaizumi’s hands find their way at the hem of Tooru’s shirt and start to lift-

Tooru catches Iwaizumi’s hands and frantically pulls back, yelping a sharp, “Hey, uh-!”  
He doesn’t know what else to say, so he leaves it at that.

Iwaizumi’s hands fly up and out of Tooru’s grip, and he leans back so that none of his body is touching Tooru at all.  
He stands up, actually, off the bed but still facing Tooru.

There’s a beat of silence as Iwaizumi moves so that Tooru can sit up, but he starts talking as soon as Tooru is upright.

“I’m sorry,” he says quickly, a little breathlessly. “I think I read that wrong, my bad. I’m really sorry.”

Tooru kickstarts his brain and pushes words out finally, “No! I mean, no, it’s fine. I’m just, uh, a little more nervous about this than I thought.”

Iwaizumi shakes his head, still keeping a distance out of reach from Tooru.  
“No, I should have made sure. I’m used to just jumping into it, but…” he shakes his head again. “Sorry. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah! I’m okay. I’m sorry.”

Iwaizumi breathes a breath that Tooru thinks might be relief.  
“Oikawa, we don’t have to do this, you know. I don’t mind if you don’t actually want to.”

“No, I mean, _you_ want to. I’ll be fine. I’m the one who asked in the first place.”  
Tooru’s eyes drift down to the floor, fidgeting his fingers.

“I don’t want to if you’re not fully on board.”  
Iwaizumi steps forward, trying to catch Tooru’s eyes.

“...I’m really sorry,” Tooru mumbles, tightening his jaw.

Iwaizumi scoffs softly, reaching out and holding out his hand near Tooru’s head and pausing, as if wordlessly asking permission to touch him again.

Tooru glances up at him in response, and he gently combs his fingers through Tooru’s still-damp hair, sliding them down to caress Tooru’s cheek.

He murmurs, “You don’t have to apologize. I’m sorry I sprung it on you.”

“I feel bad, though,” Tooru mutters, leaning into Iwaizumi’s hand. “I don’t… not want to do it with you. Eventually.”

Iwaizumi huffs a laugh, moving to sit next to Tooru on the bed again without moving his hand.  
“Don’t feel bad. We can do it whenever we’re comfortable.”

Tooru lifts his eyes to properly look at Iwaizumi.  
This guy… honestly, how does such a wonderful person exist? Of all the people Tooru could have met that night, of all the people his friends could have organized a mixer with, how in the world did the universe work for him to meet such an angel?

Tooru groans as he wraps his arms around Iwaizumi and buries his face in the latter’s hair.  
It’s almost dry due to how short it is, and it smells just like Tooru’s.

“You’re such an amazing person, what the hell?” he mumbles into Iwaizumi’s hair.

Iwaizumi pulls his hands around Tooru, embracing him back as he laughs softly. He reaches up and his fingers draw circles around Tooru’s shoulders, extra tender around his injury.

Iwaizumi whispers, “You’re just as amazing. I hope you see that some day.”

There’s something about those words that strikes something in Tooru.  
He really _does_ feel like crying now.

“I’m actually really tired. Can we sleep?” he asks instead, exhaustion running over him all at once.  
It’s hard to believe the state he was in earlier in the morning compared to now.

“Mm,” Iwaizumi hums, untangling himself from Tooru to turn off the light.  
He crawls back into bed as Tooru’s settling in. Iwaizumi’s bed is big enough for them both to sleep on either side without touching each other, but Iwaizumi pulls Tooru in and spoons him.

Tooru… has never been spooned before. But there’s something protected and safe about it, and Tooru finds himself falling asleep quickly despite the noise of the storm outside, buried deep in the scent of coconut.

Tooru wakes up to a warm, cozy bed. The sun’s warming a spot on his pillow, just missing his head, but he can still feel the heat from the beam.  
He can hear the soft _plap_ as leftover drops of water drip from tree branches to the roof of the apartment along with birds chirping.

And he can feel strong arms still wrapped around him, and a warm breath on the back of his neck.  
He… kind of wants to see his face, but he worries he might wake Iwaizumi up if he moves too much.

As gently as he can, he twists his body so that he disturbs Iwaizumi as little as possible.  
He’s successfully able to spin around so that he’s facing Iwaizumi without waking him up, and Iwaizumi’s arms are still loosely holding Tooru.

He’s calm and beautiful as he’s sleeping, heavy breaths mixing in with the soft, cozy sounds of the morning. When his eyes are closed like this, Tooru can see how long his eyelashes are and how there’s a small, hardly visible scar on his chin.

Tooru’s not sure where he got the scar, but it’s so subtle, that Tooru almost feels like he’s found a secret about Iwaizumi that no one else could have found out.  
He reaches out and brushes his thumb over the scar - he can hardly feel it, either. It’s so small and there likely isn’t any big story behind it, but Tooru still finds it endearing.

Iwaizumi’s breathing slows and his eyelashes flutter. His eyes droop like he still wants to close them, even as he’s blinking them awake.  
He licks his lips, flexes his fingers, furrows his eyebrows, shifts his jaw, his nose even twitches a little.

His fingers seem to find Tooru’s hip and he squeezes gently, seeming to remember that Tooru is there. He opens his eyes and settles them on Tooru’s silently.  
They don’t say anything for a couple minutes, just stare into each other’s eyes. Tooru finds a new appreciation for Iwaizumi’s sharp green eyes, seeing them up close like this.

After a moment of silence between them, Iwaizumi leans forward and kisses Tooru’s forehead.  
He moves right back after he does, like he’d never done it in the first place.

Tooru’s heart is fluttering all over the place. Getting to see Iwaizumi wake up definitely stirred something in him.  
He’s been sure about Iwaizumi, deep down, ever since they first talked. He may have been in a little denial about him simply because he didn’t want to admit he fell so quickly.

The first time he’d hung out with Iwaizumi, that shopping date, he’d briefly thought about what it would be like if he and Iwaizumi were living together or married.  
At the time, it was just a passing thought, nothing more. He wouldn’t have been able to imagine it then, especially since they’d only met again recently.

But now, after everything… Tooru might be able to imagine it now.  
Maybe it’s jumping the gun a bit. Putting that much trust and commitment in someone else is scary, especially since they’ve only had this thing going for a little over one and a half months.

After all, Iwaizumi, being such an attractive and wonderful person, could easily ditch Tooru if he ever found someone else or got tired of Tooru.  
In fact, it’s probably more likely that he’d find someone he’d fall for more than Tooru, but Tooru supposes his own opinion of himself just isn’t all that high to begin with.

Maybe he’s just getting ahead of himself after they made up from their little spat. Maybe Iwaizumi doesn’t feel the same way. Maybe Tooru’s just getting that honeymoon effect prematurely.  
But...

But Tooru doesn’t think he really minds.  
Even if he gets dumped, he’s willing to risk the heartbreak for someone like Iwaizumi.  
Even if Iwaizumi breaks his heart, it’d still kind of be an honor that his heart was even Iwaizumi’s at all.  
Is that too sappy? He won’t say it out loud, at the very least.

Instead, he lets a different set of words slip out of his mouth, still sleepy, whispered in the quiet morning.  
“I think I’m in love with you.”

Iwaizumi perks up a little, like that woke him up a bit.  
He watches Tooru carefully, as if waiting for Tooru to snort and say “Just kidding!”.  
But when Tooru doesn’t, he lets a toothy grin cross his face, pulls Tooru closer and kisses his cheek.

“Good. Because I’m in love with you.”

Tooru’s unpacking boxes of his things. He’s never actually realized how much _stuff_ he’s accumulated over the years he’s lived with Mattsun until he packed it all up.  
Admittedly, he tends to just buy things he thinks are cute, even if they’re useless.  
He could probably do with some cleaning of his little trinkets, but… well, this little keychain plush of a rabbit is cute.

Iwaizumi brings another box in and sets it down in the middle of the empty living room.  
Their furniture delivery ended up getting delayed, so they’re left with a mostly empty apartment for the time being.  
They have a mattress, but no frame, so at the very least, they won’t be sleeping on hardwood tonight.

Despite their apartment being virtually empty right now, it doesn’t feel lonely at all. In fact, the thought of living their life into this apartment together is more than enough for it to feel cozy and homely already.

Iwaizumi heaves the box down next to Tooru, and he plops himself down on the floor next to Tooru with a grunt.  
“What is _in_ this box?” he grumbles, pulling the cardboard flaps open.

Tooru scoffs, “Books, I think. Mattsun packed that one, so it’ll be organized at least.”

Iwaizumi pulls out a book titled “Loving Yourself: A Guide to Seeing Yourself Through a Different Lens” and flips through it.  
Tooru glances over and notices and chuckles softly.

“Ah, that. Bokuto bought that for me a couple years ago. I haven’t read it in forever, but I remember thinking it was such a nice gift,” he hums, leaning over and resting his head on Iwaizumi’s shoulder as he rifles through the pages.

“Do you still need it?” Iwaizumi asks, closing the book and setting it back in the box. “I think you’re wonderful.”

Tooru breathes a laugh, humming when Iwaizumi reaches up and pushes a stray piece of hair out of his face.

He knows that. He knows Iwaizumi thinks he’s great, he’s said so a million times in the handful of years they’ve been together now.  
Of course, Tooru thinks Iwaizumi is wonderful, too. He’s always been wonderful, an amazingly kind and perfect human being since the moment they met.

Iwaizumi has never been shy to tell Tooru how gorgeous he thinks Tooru is, though.  
He’s always been adamant about making Tooru believe that he’s attractive and an incredible person, and Tooru thinks maybe it’s starting to rub off, too.

He loves Iwaizumi more than anything, and if Iwaizumi loves him, well...

“No,” Tooru whispers, “You make me love myself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little fun fact, i cut out a scene because it didnt fit but it had to do with iwa sleeping over at oiks and mattsun's place and waking up to find bokuto just. rummaging around in tooru's desk for a cube for his charger and briefly thinking bokuto is a burglar trying to rob oikawa; really wish i could have slapped it in somewhere bc it was a funny scene but alas, i couldnt find an area to stick it in
> 
> either way, thanks again for reading!<3

**Author's Note:**

> in my head, hinata and kageyama drunkenly stumbled into that bathroom, and hinata said smth like "we should carve our initials into the door!" and kageyama said with all seriousness "that's a great idea"  
> also press f in respect for tendou pensive emoji
> 
> >[follow my tumblr and come chat!](https://fliicke.tumblr.com/)  
> >[follow my twitter, where i sometimes post wip snippets!](https://twitter.com/fliicke)


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